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Encroachment Quotes

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Encroachment Quotes

“For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that — either now or in the uncertain future — patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable." [The Eternal Value of Privacy, May 18, 2006]”

FreedomLibertyIndividualityObservationPrivacySurveillanceEncroachment
Author:Bruce Schneier
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“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." [Olmstead v. U.S., 277 U.S. 438 (1928) (dissenting)]”

GovernmentFreedomLibertyPolicyCivil RightsPrivacyEncroachment
Author:Louis D. Brandeis
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“If we are to violate the Constitution, will the people submit to our unauthorized acts? Sir, they ought not to submit; they would deserve the chains that these measures are forging for them. The country will swarm with informers, spies, delators and all the odious reptile tribe that breed in the sunshine of a despotic power ... [T]he hours of the most unsuspected confidence, the intimacies of friendship, or the recesses of domestic retirement afford no security. The companion whom you most trust, the friend in whom you must confide, the domestic who waits in your chamber, all are tempted to betray your imprudent or unguarded follie; to misrepresent your words; to convey them, distorted by calumny, to the secret tribunal where jealousy presides — where fear officiates as accuser and suspicion is the only evidence that is heard ... Do not let us be told, Sir, that we excite a fervour against foreign aggression only to establish a tyranny at home; that [...] we are absurd enough to call ourselves ‘free and enlightened’ while we advocate principles that would have disgraced the age of Gothic barbarity and establish a code compared to which the ordeal is wise and the trial by battle is merciful and just." [opposing the Alien & Sedition bills of 1798, in Congress]”

GovernmentFreedomLibertyPolicyCivil RightsPrivacySurveillanceSuppressionEncroachment
Author:Edward Livingston
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“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

GovernmentLibertyInformationCommunicationHuman RightsCivil RightsBordersCensorshipFreedom Of SpeechFrontiersSurveillanceFreedom Of ThoughtInternational CommunityEncroachmentFreedom Of Opinion
Book:Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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“These examples and many others demonstrate an alarming trend whereby the privacy and dignity of our citizens is being whittled away by sometimes imperceptible steps. Taken individually, each step may be of little consequence. But when viewed as a whole, there begins to emerge a society quite unlike any we have seen -- a society in which government may intrude into the secret regions of man's life at will." [Osborn v. United States, 385 U.S. 323, 343 (1966) (dissenting)]”

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Author:William O. Douglas
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“To many people I have no doubt that it appears merely silly. I once found it expressed in a rather amusing way in a Russian Book called Dal Zoviet, which means the lure of far horizons. The author is Galinischev Kutuzoff [Golenischev-Kutuzov], and he tells of a man in Northern Mongolia who goes out of his yurt every morning to breathe the free air of the steppes and enjoy the immensity and the solitude. But one day he feels an uncomfortable sense of oppression, almost as if he could not breathe. He looks about to find the reason. And there, across the undulating grasslands, is a line of telegraph poles. And after the place never the same to him again.”

CivilizationEncroachmentKingdom ComeGolenischev Kutuzov
Book:The Maker of Heavenly Trousers
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“The encroachment of government surveillance is a blatant transgression of our right to privacy, with ramifications that extend far beyond the legal framework. The emotional toll inflicted by the constant awareness of being monitored is a corrosive force that undermines the very foundation of trust between citizens and their government. Instances of surveillance excess, whether historical or contemporary, underscore the potential for abuse, showcasing the urgent need to curb such practices to preserve the emotional well-being of individuals and the societal trust essential for a thriving democracy. Unlawful surveillance is not just a breach of legality; it is a betrayal of the principles that define a free and open society.”

GovernmentDemocracyAwarenessEmotionalAbusePrivacyRightSurveillanceTransgressionEncroachment
Author:James William Steven Parker
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“And may I not be allowed to ... read in the character of the American people, in their devotion to true liberty and to the Constitution which is its palladium [protection], ... a Government which watches over ... the equal interdict [prohibition] against encroachments and compacts between religion and the state.”

PeopleMayStatesCharacterGovernmentLibertyWatchesAtheismEqualConstitutionPositive AtheismProtectionDevotionProhibitionEncroachment
Author:James Madison
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“Unbounded hopes were placed on each successive extension of the electoral franchise, culminating in the enfranchisement of women.These hopes have been disappointed, because the voters, male and female, being politically untrained and uneducated, have (a) no grasp of constructive measures; (b) loathe taxation as such; (c) dislike being governed at all; and (d) dread and resent any extension of official interference as an encroachment on their personal liberty.”

Has BeensLibertyFemaleMalesOfficialsVotingVotersDisappointedDislikeDreadExtensionsTaxationConstructiveResentInterferenceLoatheUneducatedEncroachmentPersonal Liberty
Author:George Bernard Shaw
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“The use of the word royalty, as fee to a proprietor for the exploitation of a work or property, derives from the period when the sovereign assumed title to all wealth of the realm. It was the struggle for freedom from these encroachments of the state that chiefly marked the Nineteenth Century, and established everywhere constitutional regimes of limited authority. In the Twentieth Century, however, we have witnessed a gradual and almost unrestricted movement back to state authoritarianism, primarily in the economic sphere, accompanied by the spread of state monopoly and intervention.”

StatesUseWealthStruggleEconomicCenturyMovementPeriodsAuthorityPropertySpreadTitlesRealmsSpheresRegimesExploitationSovereignMonopolyInterventionRoyaltyTwentieth CenturyNineteenth CenturyAuthoritarianismFeesEncroachmentStruggle For Freedom
Author:Elgin Groseclose
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“In San Francisco, vulgarity, "bad taste," ostentation are regarded as a kind of alien blight, an invasion or encroachment from outside. In Los Angeles, there is so much money and power connected with ostentation that is no longer ludicrous: it commands a kind of respect. For if the mighty behave like this, then quiet good taste means that you can't afford the conspicuous expenditures, and you become a little ashamed of your modesty and propriety.”

IfsKindMeanLittlesTasteQuietConnectedCommandAliensBehaveAshamedLos AngelesModestySan FranciscoInvasionGood TasteVulgarityProprietyExpendituresBad TasteEncroachmentMoney And PowerBlightOstentation
Book:i lost it at the movies
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“Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

GovernmentLostFreedomLibertyForeverDemocracyConstitutionPatriotFoundingFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyOur Founding FathersUs Founding FathersForefathersFounding AmericaEncroachmentUs ConstitutionAmerican PatriotismAmerican LibertyAmerican PatriotGovernment And Society
Book:The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784
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“Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. When the people give way, their deceivers, betrayers and destroyers press upon them so fast that there is no resisting afterwards. The nature of the encroachments is to, grow every day more encroaching; like a cancer, it eats faster and faster every hour.”

PeopleWayGivingGrowsHoursLibertyPressesCancerFasterPreservesVotingMaximsArbitraryBudResistingDestroyersEncroachmentDeceiver
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“To watch the progress of such endeavors is the office of a free press. To give us early alarm and put us on our guard against encroachments of power. This then is a right of utmost importance, one for which, instead of yielding it up, we ought rather to spill our blood.”

GivingWatchesProgressBloodOughtOfficeImportancePressesEndeavorAlarmsSpillsFree PressEncroachment
Book:The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton: Documents and Commentary
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“Americans' liberty is perishing beneath the constant growth of government power. Federal, state and local government's are confiscating citizens' property, trampling their rights, and decimating their opportunities more than ever before.... American liberty can still be rescued from the encroachments of government. The first step to saving our liberty is to realize how much we have already lost, how we lost it, and how we will continue to lose unless fundamental political changes occur.”

FirstsStillsStatesGovernmentPoliticalOpportunityLostGrowthRealizingLosesLibertyStepsRightsCitizensFundamentalsConstantPropertyLocalsSavingFirst StepsEncroachmentAmerican LibertyLocal GovernmentPerishingPolitical Change
Author:James Bovard
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“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.”

LifeTimePoliticsLibertyChristianityEconomyLiberalismFoundersPatriotFoundingGodlyFirst AmendmentJulyFreedom And LibertyTremblingFreedom LibertyGift From GodOur Founding FathersProperty RightsUs HistoryDeclaration Of IndependencePassportsFounding Fathers ChristianUs Founding FathersIndividual LibertyFounding Fathers ReligiousGod LifeFree GovernmentFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaAmerican Founding FathersFounding Fathers AtheistNatural RightsDeismChristianity From Founding FathersChristian FatherChristian HeritageEncroachmentInalienable RightsAmerican LibertyReligion And GovernmentRevolution Founding FathersUnalienable RightsChristian PatrioticDeistTyranny Founding FathersJuly 4BoisterousLiberty And Justice For AllJustice Of GodPatriotic ReligiousReligious History
Book:A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)
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“In a government framed for durable liberty, not less regard must be paid to giving the magistrate a proper degree of authority, to make and execute the laws with rigour, than to guarding against encroachments upon the rights of the community. As too much power leads to despotism, too little leads to anarchy, and both eventually to the ruin of the people.”

PeopleGivingLittlesGovernmentLawCommunityLibertyToo MuchRightsDegreesAuthorityPaidRegardRuinsAnarchyDespotismFramedMagistratesGuardingEncroachmentToo Much PowerRigour
Book:1779-1781
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“I think the music industry, for instance, is such a huge, multibazillion-dollar industry and it's become very, very savvy. There's a very short grace period in which actual human rebellion or resistance can thrive before it's co-opted by these huge companies. And all of youth culture is packaged and sold back to us at this furious rate these days. I think it's part and parcel to this corporate encroachment on our lives in general.”

ThinkingHumansCultureCompanyGraceOur LivesYouthHugeIndustryPeriodsDollarsRateResistanceInstanceCorporateThese DaysThriveRebellionMusic IndustryFuriousSavvyParcelEncroachmentYouth Culture
Author:Ani DiFranco
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“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”

PeopleBelievePoliticalPoliticsI BelieveFreedomLibertyPowerSilentViolentInstancePatriotFoundingFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyOur Founding FathersUs Founding FathersForefathersBearing ArmsPolitical FreedomEncroachmentLimiting FreedomUsurpationTyranny Founding FathersAmending The Constitution
Author:James Madison
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“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.”

MenWellsWarStatesGovernmentPeaceUnderstandingFreedomLibertyDangerCitizensLibertarianPrivacyAnti WarAntiwarAmendmentsRulersFirst AmendmentGoverningZealFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyCivil LibertiesProperty RightsLimited GovernmentRight To Bear ArmsBearing ArmsInsidiousLimiting GovernmentRights And FreedomsLibertarian PartyFounding Fathers GunLimited Freedom2 AmendmentUnited States GovernmentEncroachmentEternal VigilanceGreat LibertarianLiberty And JusticeAmerica FreedomPrice Of FreedomSupreme Court JusticeLimiting FreedomGreat FreedomAmendment 1Government PolicyFourth AmendmentGovernment And PoliticsFreedom To ReadLaw CourtsAmendment 4Controlling GovernmentLiberty And Justice For AllSecurity And FreedomJustice TruthDivided GovernmentConflicting OpinionsWrits Of Assistance
Author:Louis D. Brandeis
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“Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent.”

GovernmentPurposeLibertyTeachCitizensProtectLibertarianPrivacyAmendmentsRulersFirst AmendmentGoverningFreedom And LibertyFree SocietyFreedom LibertyCivil LibertiesProperty RightsLimited GovernmentVigilanceRight To Bear ArmsBearing ArmsInsidiousLimiting GovernmentRights And FreedomsLibertarian PartyFounding Fathers GunLimited FreedomEncroachmentEternal VigilanceLiberty And JusticePrice Of FreedomSupreme Court JusticeLimiting FreedomAmendment 1Government PolicyFourth AmendmentGovernment And PoliticsFreedom To ReadGovernment PoliticsLaw CourtsControlling GovernmentLiberty And Justice For AllSecurity And FreedomPurpose Of GovernmentJustice TruthDivided GovernmentConflicting OpinionsWrits Of Assistance
Author:Louis D. Brandeis
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“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

GovernmentLostLibertyForeverChangedConstitutionPresidentialPatriotFoundingFreedom And LibertyFreedom Of ThoughtFreedom LibertyOur Founding FathersUs Founding FathersForefathersFounding AmericaEncroachmentUs ConstitutionAmerican PatriotismAmerican LibertyAmerican PatriotGovernment And SocietyPatriotism And Freedom
Book:The Letters of John and Abigail Adams
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“To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words. Whoever writes English is involved in a struggle that never lets up even for a sentence. He is struggling against vagueness, against obscurity, against the lure of the decorative adjective, against the encroachment of Latin and Greek, and, above all, against the worn-out phrases and dead metaphors with which the language is cluttered up.”

WritingArtSpeakLanguageStruggleInvolvedMetaphorSentencesGreekPhrasesLatinWornObscurityLureAdjectivesWorn OutSpeak EnglishEncroachmentVaguenessLatin And Greek
Author:George Orwell
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“...Cities may be rebuilt, and a People reduced to Poverty, may acquire fresh Property: But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the People once surrendered their share in the Legislature, and their Right of defending the Limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every Encroachment upon them, they can never regain it.”

PeopleMayGovernmentLostCitiesLibertyPovertyForeverShareChangedConstitutionPropertyLimitationAcquireLegislatureResistingEncroachment
Book:The Letters of John and Abigail Adams
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“If middle-class Americans do not feel threatened by the slow encroachment of the police state or the Patriot Act, it is because they live comfortably enough and exercise their liberties very lightly, never testing the boundaries. You never know you are in a prison unless you try the door.”

IfsKnowsFeelsTryingStatesEnoughLibertyClassDoorsMiddleExercisePolicePrisonBoundariesMiddle ClassPatriotThreatenedTestingPolice StateEncroachmentPatriot Act
Book:Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War
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