“I am not even an atheist so much as I am an antitheist; I not only maintain that all religions are versions of the same untruth, but I hold that the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief is positively harmful. Reviewing the false claims of religion, I do not wish, as some sentimental materialists affect to wish, that they were true. I do not envy believers their faith. I am relieved to think that the whole story is a sinister fairy tale; life would be miserable if what the faithful affirmed was actually the case.” IfsThinkingWholeStoriesWould BeBeliefWishChurchReligiousCasesAtheismInfluenceEffectsClaimsAtheistEnvyBelieverTalesVersionsMiserableFaithfulFairyFairy TaleSentimentalPositivelyReligious BeliefRelievedSinisterUntruth Book:Letters to a Young Contrarian Source: Letters to a Young Contrarian
“Obey; this may be right; but beware of reverence.... Government is nothing but regulated force; force is its appropriate claim upon your attention. It is the business of individuals to persuade; the tendency of concentrated strength, is only to give consistency and permanence to an influence more compendious than persuasion.” GivingMayGovernmentIndividualForceAttentionAtheismInfluenceClaimsPositive AtheismTendenciesAppropriateReverenceConsistencyPersuasionPermanence Book:Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness Source: Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness
“For centuries it was never discovered that education was a function of the State, and the State never attempted to educate. But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power....When the revolutionary theory of government began to prevail, and Church and State found that they were educating for opposite ends and in a contradictory spirit, it became necessary to remove children entirely from the influence of religion.” ChildrenEndsStatesGovernmentSpiritFoundChurchInfluenceModernCenturyTheoryOppositesFunctionClaimsRevolutionaryRemoveEducateSovereignBehalfContradictoryChurch And StateAbsolutism Author:Lord Acton
“Nobody is so constituted as to be able to live everywhere and anywhere; and he who has great duties to perform, which lay claim toall his strength, has, in this respect, a very limited choice. The influence of climate upon the bodily functionsextends so far, that a blunder in the choice of locality and climate is able not only to alienate a man from his actual duty, but also to withhold it from him altogether, so that he never even comes face to face with it.” MenAbleFacesChoicesInfluenceDutyClaimsLaysClimateFace To FaceBlundersLocality Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
“It is no wonder if, under the pressure of these possibilities of suffering, men are accustomed to moderate their claims to happiness - just as the pleasure principle itself, indeed, under the influence of the external world, changed into the more modest reality principle -, if a man thinks himself happy merely to have escaped unhappiness or to have survived his suffering, and if in general the task of avoiding suffering pushes that of obtaining pleasure into the background.” IfsThinkingMenWorldRealitySufferingPleasureWonderPrinciplesInfluencePossibilityChangedTasksClaimsPressureBackgroundsUnhappinessModestSurvivedAvoidingAccustomedModeratesObtaining Author:Sigmund Freud
“The Obama administration already claims the power to wage endless and boundless war, in virtually total secrecy, and without a single meaningful check or constraint. No institution with any power disputes this. To the contrary, the only ones which exert real influence - Congress, the courts, the establishment media, the plutocratic class - clearly favor its continuation and only think about how further to enable it.” ThinkingWarRealClassInfluenceMediaClaimsInstitutionsCourtCongressContraryFavorsMeaningfulEndlessChecksAdministrationEstablishmentDisputesSecrecyConstraintsBoundlessContinuation Author:Glenn Greenwald
“So as far as Serbia is concerned, it does not have the right to influence the privatization or to claim any property, because Kosovo is a former member of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.” DoeInfluenceMembersConcernedClaimsPropertyFormerRepublicSerbiaKosovoYugoslaviaPrivatization Author:Ibrahim Rugova
“More directly linked to the impact of technology, it involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled and directed society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite whose claim to political power would rest on allegedly superior scientific know-how. Unhindered by the restraints of traditional liberal values, this elite would not hesitate to achieve its political ends by using the latest modern techniques for influencing public behavior and keeping society under close surveillance and control.” KnowsEndsWould BePoliticalValuesTechnologyKnow HowInfluenceModernAchieveBehaviorClaimsImpactAppearanceTechniqueSuperiorsTraditionalControlledElitesRestraintLinkedSurveillancePolitical Power Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski