Anthony de Jasay quotes

“... the smaller the domain where choices among alternatives are made collectively, the smaller will be the probability that any individual's preference gets overruled.”
-- Anthony de Jasay

Source : Anthony De Jasay (2014). “Against Politics: On Government, Anarchy and Order”, p.49, Routledge

#Government Quotes #Choices Quotes #Alternatives Quotes

“People who live in states have as a rule never experienced the state of nature and vice-versa, and have no practical possibility of moving from the one to the other ... On what grounds, then, do people form hypotheses about the relative merits of state and state of nature? ... My contention here is that preferences for political arrangements of society are to a large extent produced by these very arrangements, so that political institutions are either addictive like some drugs, or allergy-inducing like some others, or both, for they may be one thing for some people and the other for others.”
-- Anthony de Jasay

#Moving Quotes #Government Quotes #People Quotes

“In the process of helping some (perhaps most) people to more utility and justice, the state imposes on civil society a system of interdictions and commands.”
-- Anthony de Jasay

#People Quotes #Justice Quotes #Society Quotes

“Self-imposed limits on sovereign power can disarm mistrust, but provide no guarantee of liberty and property beyond those afforded by the balance between state and private force.”
-- Anthony de Jasay

#Self Quotes #Balance Quotes #Liberty Quotes

“Karl Popper once advised a student that if he wanted to reap intellectual fame, he should write endless pages of obscure, high-flown prose that would leave the reader puzzled and cowed. He should then here and there smuggle in a few sensible, straightforward sentences all could understand. The reader would feel that since he has grasped this part, he must have also grasped the rest. He would then congratulate himself and praise the author.”
-- Anthony de Jasay

Source : "The Seen and the Unseen. Part I. On the Economics of Protecting Employment" by Anthony de Jasay, www.econlib.org. December 6, 2004.

#Writing Quotes #Intellectual Quotes #Pages Quotes

“Having gathered all power to itself, [the State] has become the sole focus of all conflict, and it must construct totalitarian defences to match its total exposure.”
-- Anthony de Jasay

#Focus Quotes #Democracy Quotes #Conflict Quotes

“You can't accuse the creator of The Boondocks, ... Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan was the devil and the government is lying about 9/11.”

“I agree that ***** laws are overdue for an overhaul. I also favor the medical use of ***** -- if it's prescribed by a physician. I cannot understand why the federal government should interfere with the doctor-patient relationship, nor why it would ignore the will of a majority of voters who have legally approved such legislation.”

“The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.”

“That we we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

“It represents a place women go and are left confused because they do not hear the truth about abortion and their choices. They are in a sense abused by the medical procedures that are performed without quality medical instructions/information. It's a tragic place.”

“Think deeply about things. Don’t just go along because that’s the way things are or that’s what your friends say. Consider the effects, consider the alternatives, but most importantly, just think.”

Source : Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.22, The New Press

“American consumers might benefit if lenders provided greater mortgage product alternatives to the traditional fixed-rate mortgage.”

“Freedom of the mind requires not only, or not even especially the absence of legal constraints but the presence of alternative thoughts.”

“I think anyone who comes upon a Nautilus machine suddenly will agree with me that its prototype was clearly invented at some time in history when torture was considered a reasonable alternative to diplomacy.”

“Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation, and that is unthinkable.”