Tom Paine -

These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.

Ayn Rand -

The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters and intends to be the master

Marcus Aurelius -

The opinion of ten thousand men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.

F.A.Hayek -

It was John Maynard Keynes, a man of great intellect but limited knowledge of economic theory, who ultimately succeeded in rehabilitating a view long the preserve of cranks with whom he openly sympathised.

Robert Heinlein -

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as “bad luck.”

Edmund Burke -

Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises; for never intending to go beyond promises, it costs nothing

H.L. Mencken -

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

Donald Sensing -

At bottom, modern environmentalism has discarded scientific rigor to embrace something not much different than Leninism, the desire to control the major components of the way individuals live. From there it is a short step for environmentalism to Leninism's successor: Stalinism, the desire to control every aspect of the way we live. That's our future, minus the gulags. We hope.

Guy Herbert -

...The security theatre in fact heightens the perception of threat - and the politicians, being for the most part innumerate, unscientific, weathervanes of public emotion, are the most susceptible to it. They don't invent the threat to justify totalitarianism, but will embrace totalitarianism joyfully as a concomitant of their own inability to judge the magnitude, and their unwillingness to take responsibility for the consequences of taking any position at all. What we have is a malign feedback caused by political desire to be seen doing something pumping up the media. That's why every fantasist is presented as a real danger, every near-random act of successful violence be a civilization-threatening strategic blow. Which only encourages would-be terrorists in their sense of their own importance. It is a folie á deaux between two groups of showoffs.

John Adams -

The precept of the Koran is, perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the prophet of God. The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of tribute; the victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive promise of peace; and the faithful follower of the prophet, may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to propagate the Moslem creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike, by fraud, or by force.

Samuel Adams -

If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen

Roger de Hauteville -

Capitalism isn't a system. Got that? Capitalism is the lack of a system. Why can't you fools understand this? Capitalism is freedom. All "systems" are the enemies of freedom, because they rely on the opinions of a few-- usually very cranky-- people, instead of on the collective wisdom of everyone acting in their own self interest, tempered by their innate generosity. Capitalism is the unfettered desire and ability of humans to barter with one another and accumulate knowledge and things. That's it. In capitalism, certain institutions arise because the market signals they are necessary in the first place, and supports them after they are established. In general, when people who do not understand this desire of humans to barter and accumulate things attack these useful institutions, they destroy wealth and impoverish people. That confab in Davos is the poster child for that sort of meddling. Repeat after me: Hong Kong-good. North Korea-bad.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks -

A tolerant society is one that ignores differences and a multi-cultural one is one that highlights them.

Winston Churchill -

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

Alexis de Tocqueville -

[Democratic despotism] seeks only to keep them fixed irrevocably in childhood; it likes citizens to enjoy themselves provided that they think only of enjoying themselves… . It willingly works for their happiness; but it wants to be the unique agent and sole arbiter of that; it provides for their security, foresees and secures their needs, facilitates their pleasures, conducts their principal affairs, directs their industry, regulates their estates, divides their inheritances; can it not take away from them entirely the trouble of thinking and the pain of living? … [This power] extends its arms over society as a whole; it covers its surface with a network of small, complicated, painstaking, uniform rules through which the most original minds and the most vigorous souls cannot clear a way to surpass the crowd; … it does not tyrannize, it hinders, compromises, enervates, extinguishes, dazes, and finally reduces each nation to being nothing more than a herd of timid and industrious animals of which the government is the shepherd.

Evan Coyne Maloney -

The dogma of multiculturalism holds that all cultures are equal, except Western culture, which (unlike every other society on the planet) has a history of oppression and war is therefore worse. All religions are equal, except Christianity, which informed the beliefs of the capitalist bloodsuckers who founded America and is therefore worse. All races are equal, except Caucasians, who long ago went into business with black slave traders in Africa, and therefore they are worse. The genders, too, are equal, except for those paternalistic males, who with their testosterone and aggression have made this planet a polluted living hell, and therefore they are worse. Once you understand this, the Multicultural Pyramid of Oppression, you can begin to understand how to turn to your advantage certain circumstances that are beyond your control: such as where you were born, the type of genitalia you were born with, into what race you were born, and the religion of your parents. You see, the fewer things you have in common with The Oppressors, the more you can cast yourself as The Victim. And as The Victim, you are virtuous, so there are certain things you can get away with that others can’t: like actually oppressing people.

Doris Lessing -

WHILE we have seen the apparent death of Communism, ways of thinking that were either born under Communism or strengthened by Communism still govern our lives. Not all of them are as immediately evident as a legacy of Communism as political correctness...

Wilfrid Laurier -

What is hateful is not rebellion but the despotism which induces that rebellion; what is hateful are not rebels but the men who, having the enjoyment of power, do not discharge the duties of power; they are the men who, having the power to redress wrongs, refuse to listen to the petitions that are sent to them; they are the men who, when they are asked for a loaf, give a stone.

Benito Mussolini -

The corporate State considers that private enterprise in the sphere of production is the most effective and useful instrument in the interest of the nation. In view of the fact that private organization of production is a function of national concern, the organizer of the enterprise is responsible to the State for the direction given to production. State intervention in economic production arises only when private initiative is lacking or insufficient, or when the political interests of the State are involved. This intervention may take the form of control, assistance or direct management.

John Brignell -

The global warmers like to use the name of science, but they do not like its methods. They promote slogans such as “The science is settled” when real scientists know that science is never settled... The world might (or might not) have warmed by a fraction of a degree. This might (or might not) be all (or in part) due to the activities of mankind. It all depends on the quality of observations and the validity of various hypotheses. Science is at ease with this situation. It accepts various theories, such as gravitation or evolution, as the least bad available and of the most practical use, but it does not believe. Religion is different.