“While the state can coerce, with some exceptions (like North Korea) it seems to me misleading to think of it as capable of "enslavement."”
Quote collection
Thinking Quotes — page 960 of 4756
“In general I don't think the image of the state as a divinity is very helpful.”
“United States has comparative advantage in military force. It tends to react to anything at first with military force, that's what it's good at. And I think they overdid it. There was more military force than was necessary.”
“I think there was an overemphasis in the early stage on militarization rather than directly providing relief. I don't think it has any long-term significance.”
“While I think in principle people should not have irrational beliefs, I should say that as a matter of fact, it is people who hold what I regard as completely irrational beliefs who are among the most effective moral actors in the world, in many respects. They're among the worst, but also among the best, even though the moral beliefs are ostensibly the same.”
“For us, we are all very different, our languages are very different, and our societies are very different. But if we could extract ourselves from our point of view and sort of look down at human life the way a biologist looks at other organisms, I think we could see it a different way.”
“A good education instills in you the intuitive comprehension - it becomes unconscious and reflexive - that you just don't think certain things, things that are threatening to power interests.”
“I don't really think there have been transitional periods to socialism. There have been efforts, but they have usually been destroyed by a combination of external force and internal corruption.”
“They are involve in producing products and there are different kinds of people running them, but the principle is the same. A corporation shouldn't have the right. Under American law as its developed over the past century, corporation do have personal rights, but I think that's a very negative development.”
“Somebody puts up some weird thing and somebody else thinks yeah maybe that's the way things work and pretty soon you have some cult going. Its not the fault of the internet, it's the fault of a social and culture system that doesn't educate people properly and in fact on purpose. They don't want to educate people properly.”
“I think that has a lot of dangers, as does government surveillance, which is way too high.”
“I think individuals have a right to privacy, but that ought to include the right to prevent private institutions from monitoring what you do and building up a personal profile for you so that they can direct you in particular ways by their effective control over the internet, and that doesn't happen of course.”
“The lessons are, unfortunately, that a small weak country that is facing an extremely hostile and very violent superpower will not make much progress unless there's a strong solidarity movement within the superpower that will restrain its actions. With more support within the United States, I think the Haitian efforts could have succeeded.”
“My grandchildren are on social media all the time, and they think they have friends. But it's not what I would've called a friend, ever.”
“We don't think about it, but it has a tremendous effect. But these are things you don't see right in front of your eyes. You need to think about them a little, to see what the consequences are.”
“I think the real bargains are what they would call the smaller, ignored and unloved companies.”
“I think when I say universal, it means making a project that everybody can enjoy but also a project where they're getting closer to you.”
“I've lived this lifestyle as an artist and sometimes we get caught up in the fun, women and partying. But when you really sit back and think about it, it's not what fulfills you deep down inside and there's much more to experience in life than just that.”
“I completely believe that - literature for me is a way of life. That's probably true of all writers or all artists. I think in the end this kind of activity absorbs one in such a way that it becomes one's way of life.”
“I think in a country like mine, violence is at the root of all human relations.”