“If history could prove and teach us anything, it would be the private ownership of the means of production as a necessary requisite of civilization and material well-being. All civilizations have up to now been based on private property. Only nations committed to the principle of private property have risen above penury and produced science, art, and literature. There is no experience to show that any other social system could provide mankind with any of the achievements of civilization.” IfsWellsMeanArtShowsWisdomWould BeLiteraturePoliticsNationsSocialPrinciplesTeachEconomyMankindMaterialsCivilizationProveAchievementPropertyCommittedProductionsWell BeingLiberalismOwnershipRisenPrivate PropertySocial Systems Author:Ludwig von Mises
“What would become of the world without the Devil? Under all the different systems of religion that have guided or misguided the world for the last six thousand years, the Devil has been the grand scapegoat. He has had to bear the blame of every thing that has gone wrong. All the evil that gets committed is laid to his door, and he has, besides, the credit of hindering all the good that has never got done at all. If mankind were not thus one and all victims to the Devil, what an irredeemable set of scoundrels they would be obliged to confess themselves!” IfsWorldYearsHas BeensDifferentDoneWould BeLastsEvilGoneDoorsMankindBearsThousandSixDevilVictimBlameCommittedCreditThousand YearsObligedMisguidedScoundrelsScapegoat Book:Zoe: The History of Two Lives Source: Zoe: The History of Two Lives
“A criminal who, having renounced reason ... hath, by the unjust violence and slaughter he hath committed upon one, declared war against all mankind, and therefore may be destroyed as a lion or tiger, one of those wild savage beasts with whom men can have no society nor security.” MenMayWarReasonViolenceMankindSecurityCommittedCriminalsDestroyedBeastLionsSavagesUnjustTigersSlaughter Book:The Second Treatise on Civil Government Source: The Second Treatise on Civil Government
“Most writers begin with accounts of their first home, their family, and the town, often from quite a hostile point of view-love/hate, let's say. In a way, this stepping outside, in an attempt to judge enough to create a duplicate of it, makes you an outsider. . . . I think it's healthy for a writer to feel like an outsider. If you feel like an insider you get committed to a partisan view, you begin to defend interests, so you wind up not really empathizing with all mankind.” IfsThinkingWayFeelsFirstsEnoughHomeHateInterestViewsMankindJudgingWindHealthyAccountsTownsCommittedPoint Of ViewOutsidersHostileLove HatePartisansInsidersDuplicateFirst Home Author:John Updike
“What we committed in the Indies stands out among the most unpardonable offenses ever committed against God and mankind and this trade [in Indian slaves] as one of the most unjust, evil, and cruel among them.” EvilMankindTradeSlaveCommittedIndianOffenseUnjustStanding Out Author:Bartolome de las Casas