However human, envy is certainly not one of the sources of discontent that a free society can eliminate. It is read more

However human, envy is certainly not one of the sources of discontent that a free society can eliminate. It is probably one of the essential conditions for the preservation of such a society that we do not countenance envy, not sanction its demands by camouflaging it as social justice, but treat it, in the words of John Stuart Mill, as "the most anti-social and evil of all passions.

Again men have been kept back as by a kind of enchantment from progress in science by reverence for antiquity, read more

Again men have been kept back as by a kind of enchantment from progress in science by reverence for antiquity, by the authority of men counted great in philosophy, and then by general consent.

As memory may be a paradise from which we cannot be driven, it may also be a hell from which read more

As memory may be a paradise from which we cannot be driven, it may also be a hell from which we cannot escape. - Aphorisms and Reflections.

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.

The rational individualist is not the enemy of benevolence or civility, but their truest exemplar.

The rational individualist is not the enemy of benevolence or civility, but their truest exemplar.

The most basic question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best.

The most basic question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best.

We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his read more

We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.

Intelligence is not all that important in the exercise of power, and is often, in point of fact, useless.

Intelligence is not all that important in the exercise of power, and is often, in point of fact, useless.

Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd.

Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd.