Rank and riches are chains of gold, but still chains.

Rank and riches are chains of gold, but still chains.

To those who feel that their values are the values, the less controlled systems necessarily present a spectacle of "chaos," read more

To those who feel that their values are the values, the less controlled systems necessarily present a spectacle of "chaos," simply because such systems respond to a diversity of values. The more successfully such systems respond to diversity, the more "chaos" there will be, by definition, according to the standards of any specific set of values- other than diversity or freedom as values. Looked at another way, the more self-righteous observers there are, the more chaos (and "waste") will be seen.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed [and hence clamorous to be led to safety] read more

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed [and hence clamorous to be led to safety] by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

I gave 'em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if read more

I gave 'em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing.

A recent conversation: Dubya: Look at the clock, time is racing! Cheney: That's the second hand, George.

A recent conversation: Dubya: Look at the clock, time is racing! Cheney: That's the second hand, George.

In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also is despotic governments: in the former, because they are read more

In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also is despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything; in the latter, because they are nothing.

It is a dangerous and idle dream to think that the state can become rule by philosophers turned kings or read more

It is a dangerous and idle dream to think that the state can become rule by philosophers turned kings or scientists turned commissars. For if philosophers become kings or scientists commissars, they become politicians, and the powers given to the state are powers given to men who are rulers of states, men subject to all the limitations and temptations of their dangerous craft. Unless this is borne in mind, there will be a dangerous optimistic tendency to sweep aside doubts and fears as irrelevant, since, in the state that the projectors have in mind, power will be exercised by men of a wisdom and degree of moral virtue that we have not yet seen. It won't. It will be exercised by men who will be men first and rulers next and scientists and saints long after.

Given that some social processes must convey inherent constraints, the choice is among various mixtures of persuasion, force, and cultural read more

Given that some social processes must convey inherent constraints, the choice is among various mixtures of persuasion, force, and cultural inducement. The less of one, the more of the others. The degree of freedom that is possible is therefore tied to the extent to which people respond to persuasion or inducement.

...the argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason read more

...the argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason can employ, but an argument against all exclusive, privileged, monopolistic organization, against the use of coercion to prevent others from doing better.