I wish the Preamble to the Constitution stated the government exists to provide Liberty and not Security.
And I wish the US Supreme Court had some sort of governing document which said the same thing -- the Court exists to uphold the US Constitution and to provide Liberty and not Security.
I do not want to live in a Safe society.
I want to live in a Free society..
Most people don't want any bad thing to ever happen to anyone anywhere. I think most of our problems stem from this. Patrick Henry said "Give me Liberty or give me Death" and we are now about a million miles away from that.
Same website has an Any Rand collection:
“Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter.” – Ayn Rand
“Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.” – Ayn Rand
“Capitalism was the only system in history where wealth was not acquired by looting, but by production, not by force, but by trade, the only system that stood for man’s right to his own mind, to his work, to his life, to his happiness, to himself.” – Ayn Rand
“Do you think nobody would willingly entrust his children to you and pay you for teaching them? Why do you have to extort your fees and collect your pupils by compulsion?”
“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”
“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”
“Rationalization is a process of not perceiving reality, but of attempting to make reality fit one’s emotions.”
“...the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.” -— H.L. Mencken, In Defense Of Women
“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” — H.L. Mencken
Sometimes I think I’m too cynical, but then I realize I’m not cynical enough.
When dealing with a production manager that constantly was pushing us to do his pet projects saying “if you would only make these easy changes you could fix all these problems” I put this quote into my emails:
“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”
I always liked his:
Never argue with a man whose job depends on not being convinced.