"If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize."
"Men must have somewhat altered the course of nature; for they were not born wolves, yet they have become wolves. God did not give them twenty-four-pounders or bayonets, yet they have made themselves bayonets and guns to destroy each other. In the same category I place not only bankruptcies, but the law which carries off the bankrupts’ effects, so as to defraud their creditors."
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Source: Voltaire (1956). “Candide: or, Optimism”
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"So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men."
"It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong."
"The mirror is a worthless invention. The only way to truly see yourself is in the reflection of someone else's eyes."
"Give me the patience for the small things of life, courage for the great trials of life. Help me to do my best each day and then go to sleep knowing God is awake."
"Many are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all; and others, to persecute those who do reason."