“The confused mass of rules of conduct called law, which has been bequeathed to us by slavery, serfdom, feudalism, and royalty, has taken the place of those stone monsters, before whom human victims used to be immolated, and whom slavish savages dared not even touch lest they should be slain by the thunderbolts of heaven.” ShouldHumansHas BeensLawUsedHeavenTakenMassStonesVictimSlaveryMonstersUsed To BeConfusedSavagesRoyaltyFeudalismThunderbolts Book:Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings Source: Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings
“Some of the old laws of Israel are clearly savage taboos of a familiar type thinly disguised as commands of the Deity.” LawAtheismTypeIsraelPositive AtheismFamiliarCommandSavagesDeitiesTaboo Author:James G. Frazer
“Cruelty, very far from being a vice, is the first sentiment Nature injects in us all. The infant breaks his toy, bites his nurse's breast, strangles his canary long before he is able to reason; cruelty is stamped in animals, in whom, as I think I have said, Nature's laws are more emphatically to be read than in ourselves; cruelty exists amongst savages, so much nearer to Nature than civilized men are; absurd then to maintain cruelty is a consequence of depravity. . . . Cruelty is simply the energy in a man civilization has not yet altogether corrupted: therefore it is a virtue, not a vice.” ThinkingMenFirstsLongSaidReasonAbleLawEnergyAnimalBreakVirtueCivilizationConsequenceVicesAbsurdCrueltyBreastsCivilizedSentimentsBitesNurseToysSavagesInfantDepravityCanaries Author:Marquis de Sade
“Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law and without justice. If he finds himself an individual who cannot live in society, or who pretends he has need of only his own resources do not consider him as a member of humanity; he is a savage beast or a god.” IfsMenNeedsLawHumanityIndividualJusticeAnimalTerribleMembersResourcesBeastSavages Author:Aristotle