#society

If you believed in Christianity or Islam it was called 'faith', but if you believed in astrology or friday the thirteenth it was Superstition! ↗

— Jostein Gaarder

#judgement #philosophy #society #superstition #faith

If the meaning of life has become doubtful, if one's relations to others and to oneself do not offer security, then fame is one means to silence one's doubts. It has a function to be compared with that of the Egyptian pyramids or the Christian faith in immortality: it elevates one's individual life from its limitations and instability to the plane of indestructability; if one's name is known to one's contemporaries and if one can hope that it will last for centuries, then one's life has meaning and significance by this very reflection of it in the judgments of others. ↗

— Erich Fromm

#freedom #modern-relationships #philosophy #society #western-culture

They didn’t take away my freedom, they took my life. ↗

— Barbara Rayne

#freedom

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. ↗

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

#above #both #loses #people #principles

The negative penalties of the Old Testament case laws were not harsh but just, not a threat to society but rather the necessary judicial foundation of civic freedom… the Old Testament was harsh on criminals because it was soft on victims. ↗

— Gary North

#law #reconstructionism #society #theonomy #freedom

It’s ridiculous to talk about freedom in a society dominated by huge corporations. What kind of freedom is there inside a corporation? They’re totalitarian institutions - you take orders from above and maybe give them to people below you. There’s about as much freedom as under Stalinism. ↗

— Noam Chomsky

#fascism #freedom #society #stalinism #totalitarianism

There are other grounds for believing that gays and lesbians should be respected and protected from oppression: their right to privacy and freedom of action and expression; the "victimless" nature of homosexual relations; and the many valuable contributions that gays and lesbians make to society. ↗

— Simon LeVay

#gays-and-lesbians #respect #freedom

Our institutions are too big; they represent not the best but the worst characteristics of human beings. By submitting to huge hierarchies of power, we gain freedom from personal responsibility for what we do and are forced to do - the seduction of it - but we lose the dignity of being real men and women. Power corrupts; attracts the worst and corrupts the best. ... Refuse to participate in evil; insist on taking part in what is healthy, generous, and responsible. Stand up, speak out, and when necessary fight back. Get down off the fence and lend a hand, grab a-hold, be a citizen - not a subject. ↗

— Edward Abbey

#ninety-nine-percent #ows #power #society #freedom

Es ist [...] meine tiefe Überzeugung, dass die Freiheit das Allerwichtigste im Zusammenleben ist und erst Freiheit unserer Gesellschaft Kultur, Substanz und Inhalt verleiht. ↗

— Joachim Gauck

#freedom #priorities #society #values #freedom

For the anarch, things are not so simple, especially when he has a background in history. If he remains free of being ruled, whether by sovereigns or by society, this does not mean that he refuses to serve in any way. In general, he serves no worse than anyone else, and sometimes even better, if he likes the game. He only holds back from the pledge, the sacrifice, the ultimate devotion. These are issues of metaphysical integrity.... ↗

— Ernst Jünger

#ernst-jünger #freedom #history #society #freedom