Det frie samfund: Det hele starter med et citat

If one wishes to advocate a free society – that is, capitalism – one must realize that its indispensable foundation is the principle of individual rights.

If one wishes to uphold individual rights, one must realize that capitalism is the only system that can uphold and protect them.

And if one wishes to gauge the relationship of freedom to the goals of today’s intellectuals, one may gauge it by the fact that the concept of individual rights is evaded, distorted, perverted and seldom discussed, most conspicuously seldom by the so-called “conservatives”

Ayn Rand i artiklen “Man’s rights“, som findes i bogen The Virtue of Selfishness

Et lille, men godt citat fra Atlas Shrugged

WET NURSE (et kaldenavn for en statsudpeget kontrollant, hos en af bogens hovedpersoner): Mr. Rearden.  I wanted to tell you that if you want to pour ten times the quota of Rearden Metal or steel or pig iron or anything, and bootleg it all over the place to anybody at any price—I wanted to tell you to go ahead.  I’ll fix it up.  I’ll juggled the books, I’ll fake the reports, I’ll get phony witnesses, I’ll forge affidavits, I’ll commit perjury—so you don’t have to worry, there won’t be any trouble!

REARDEN (smiling but smile vanishes when he hears the boy answer earnestly): Now why do you want to do that?

WET NURSE: Because I want, for once, to do something moral.

REARDEN: That’s not the way to be moral—

NARRATOR: Rearden started, and stopped abruptly, realizing that it was the way, the only way left, realizing through how many twists of intellectual corruption upon corruption this boy had to struggle toward his momentous discovery.

Så sandt

“Et værelse uden bøger er som en krop uden en sjæl.”

Cicero

Ugens citater!

Okay, de er faktisk fra 28. december, men er stadig rigtigt gode:

Og DR har tørklædet for øjnene.

Danmark ville i dag kunne forsyne hele verden med litteraturmagistre, filmvidenskabsmagistre, journalister, psykologer, billedkunstnere, musikere og andet godt, hvis der havde været ubegrænset adgang til studierne. Men det er ingen eksportvare, for resten af verden har selv nok af mennesker med “ophøjede” interesser.

Citatet falder på Dorte Tofts blog på Business.dk i anledning af en kritisk gennemgang af Danmarks Radios prioriteringer — eller fejlprioriteringer. Hele hendes indlæg er anbefalingsværdigt.