“It is because the cosmos is meaningless that we must secure our individual illusions of values, direction, and interest by upholding the artificial streams which give us such worlds of salutary illusion. That is - since nothing means anything in itself, we must preserve the proximate and arbitrary background which makes things around us seem as if they did mean something.” IfsWorldGivingMeanSeemsValuesIndividualInterestIllusionBackgroundsSecurePreservesStreamsCosmosMeaninglessArtificialArbitraryEnglishmen Author:H. P. Lovecraft
“Freedom is neither a legal invention nor a philosophical conquest, the cherished possession of civilizations more valid than others because they alone have been able to create or preserve it. It is the outcome of an objective relationship between the individual and the space he occupies, between the consumer and the resources at his disposal.” Has BeensAbleIndividualSpaceCivilizationResourcesPhilosophicalPossessionInventionObjectivesConsumersPreservesOutcomesConquest Book:Tristes Tropiques Source: Tristes Tropiques
“Another merit of home is that it preserves the diversity between individuals. If we were all alike, it might be convenient for the bureaucrat and the statistician, but it would be very dull, and would lead to a very unprogressive society.” IfsHomeMightWould BeIndividualDiversityPreservesMeritDullConvenientBureaucratsHomeschoolingStatistician Book:Education and the Social Order Source: Education and the Social Order
“This was how you wound up in the Inquisition. When you stopped being able to see any difference between Light Ones and Dark Ones. When for you, people weren't even a flock of sheep, but just a handful of spiders in a glass jar. When you stopped believing in the future, and all you wanted to do was preserve the status quo. For yourself. For those few individuals who were still dear to you.” PeopleBelieveStillsLightAbleWantedIndividualDifferencesDarkDearGlassesWoundsPreservesSheepStatus QuoSpidersHandfulFlocksJarsInquisition Book:The Twilight Watch: (Night Watch 3) Source: The Twilight Watch: (Night Watch 3)
“You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow.” ThinkingShouldMeanTodayOrderIndividualNationsTomorrowPeriodsBoundsLimitationPreservesBorrowing Author:Ronald Reagan