#reed

All great religions hold the power to enslave & the power to enlighten... ↗

— Simon Boylan

#religion #spirit #spirituality #wisdom #freedom

Did you know?" I snarled. "Did you help take my father and corrupt my life? ↗

— Oliver Bowden

#life

Artists shouldn't wait until they are told what their art should be, they shouldn't follow trends or allow other people to influence their work, an artist should only create from the strongest emotions within their heart ↗

— Andrew James Pritchard

#creativity #emotions #freedom-of-expression #trends #writing

True freedom only exists in art.The problem is you have to be incredibly good.No,I am putting it wrong:You don't so much have to be outstanding,what you really need are connections,if you don't want to be dependent on all kinds of government foundations who will impose their ideas and restrictions on you in turn.It can be touch and go in the beginning:It takes guts to let go of everything.But you make it,you're free. ↗

— Esther Verhoef

#close-up #esther-verhoef #freedom #life #art

If other people do not understand our behavior—so what? Their request that we must only do what they understand is an attempt to dictate to us. If this is being "asocial" or "irrational" in their eyes, so be it. Mostly they resent our freedom and our courage to be ourselves. We owe nobody an explanation or an accounting, as long as our acts do not hurt or infringe on them. How many lives have been ruined by this need to "explain," which usually implies that the explanation be "understood," i.e. approved. Let your deeds be judged, and from your deeds, your real intentions, but know that a free person owes an explanation only to himself—to his reason and his conscience—and to the few who may have a justified claim for explanation. ↗

— Erich Fromm

#freedom #life #understanding #art

Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all. ↗

— Adam Smith

#democracy #freedom #history #hope #individualism

Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil. ↗

— Gore Vidal

#evil #greed #objectivism #greed

The Master said, “If your conduct is determined solely by considerations of profit you will arouse great resentment. ↗

— Confucius

#consumerism #greed #materialism #profit #greed

Greed is a fat demon with a small mouth and whatever you feed it is never enough. ↗

— Janwillem van de Wetering

#greed

Selfishness and greed, individual or national, cause most of our troubles. ↗

— Harry S. Truman

#government #greed #national-troubles #problems #problems-in-the-world