“The United States cannot reshape other countries in its own image and that, with a few exceptions, its efforts to police the world are neither in its interests nor within the scope of its resources. This whole tendency to see ourselves as the center of political enlightenment and as teachers to a great part of the rest of the world strikes me as unthought-through, vainglorious and undesirable.” WorldCountryStatesWholeAmericaPoliticalInterestUnitedEffortUnited StatesTeacherEnlightenmentResourcesPoliceStrikesTendenciesExceptionOther CountriesScopeUndesirable Author:George F. Kennan
“When you are enlightened and have united your mind with the deepest and most ancient part of the mind of the universe, you are not affected by suffering the way other people are.” PeopleWayMindSufferingUniverseUnitedEnlightenmentAncientEnlightenedAffected Book:Surfing the Himalayas: conversations and travels with Master Fwap Source: Surfing the Himalayas: conversations and travels with Master Fwap
“Thomas Jefferson, the leading Enlightenment figure in the United States, along with Benjamin Franklin, who took exactly the same view, argued that dependence will lead to "subservience and venality", and will "suffocate the germs of virtue". And remember, by dependence he meant wage labor, which was considered an abomination under classical liberal principles.” StatesRememberUnitedViewsPrinciplesUnited StatesVirtueFiguresEnlightenmentLaborDependenceFranklinGermsAbominationSubservience Author:Noam Chomsky