#tis

A man who says that no patriot should attack the [war] until it is over is not worth answering intelligently; he is saying that no good son should warn his mother off a cliff until she has fallen over it. But there is an anti-patriot who honestly angers honest men…he is the uncandid candid friend; the man who says, "I am sorry to say we are ruined," and is not sorry at all…Granted that he states only facts, it is still essential to know what are his emotions, what is his motive. It may be that twelve hundred men in Tottenham are down with smallpox; but we want to know whether this is stated by some great philosopher who wants to curse the gods, or only by some common clergyman who wants to help the men. ↗

— G.K. Chesterton

#war #anger

Alecto was the oldest, unceasing in anger. Magaera was next, retaliator of jealousy, and Tisiphone, the last, regarded as the avenger of murder. ↗

— Elisabeth Naughton

#furies #greek-mythology #magaera #tisiphone #anger

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed. ↗

— Thomas Jefferson

#expect #liberty #translated

I am not too happy with terms like “the left”, to be honest. And I don’t use it much….if by “the left” you mean people who are committed to peace and justice and freedom and so on, there can’t be elements of the left opposed to workers’ movement, at least under that definition. ↗

— Noam Chomsky

#progressives #freedom

It is one of the great ironies of corporate control that the corporate state needs the abilities of intellectuals to maintain power, yet outside of this role it refuses to permit intellectuals to think or function independently. ↗

— Chris Hedges

#corporatism #freedom-of-thought #death

Fear is the State's psychological weapon of choice to frighten citizens into sacrificing their basic freedoms and rule-of-law protections in exchange for the security promised by their all-powerful government. ↗

— Philip G. Zimbardo

#fear #war-on-terror #freedom

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once she grows up. ↗

— Pablo Picasso

#childhood #creativity #freedom

The peoples owe all political rights and privileges which we enjoy today in greater or lesser measure, not to the good will of their governments, but to their own strength. One need only study the history of the past three hundred years to understand by what relentless struggles every right has had to be wrested inch by inch from the despots. ↗

— Rudolf Rocker

#freedom #government #privileges #rights #struggle

Without "the people," there is no country. ↗

— John David

#freedom #liberty #patriotism #politics #freedom

Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of Action; and bidding an Affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life. (Address to Congress on Resigning Commission Dec 23, 1783) ↗

— George Washington

#humility #patriotism #restraint #freedom