“If this superstitious fear of Spirits were taken away, and with it, Prognostiques from Dreams, false Prophecies, and many other things depending thereon, by which, crafty ambitious persons abuse the simple people, men would be much more fitted then they are for civill Obedience.”

The First Part, Chapter 2, p. 8
Leviathan (1651)

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Thomas Hobbes97

English philosopher, born 1588 1588–1679

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“And for Incoherent Speech, it was amongst the Gentiles taken for one sort of Prophecy, because the Prophets of their Oracles, intoxicated with a spirit, or vapor from the cave of the Pythian Oracle at Delphi, were for a time really mad, and spake like mad-men; of whoose loose words a sense might be made to fit any event, in such sort, as all bodies are said to be made of Materia prima.”

Thomas Hobbes book Leviathan

The Third Part, Chapter 36, p. 226 (See also: Glossolalia)
Leviathan (1651)

“When people impute special vices to the Christian Church, they seem entirely to forget that the world (which is the only other thing there is) has these vices much more. The Church has been cruel; but the world has been much more cruel. The Church has plotted; but the world has plotted much more. The Church has been superstitious; but it has never been so superstitious as the world is when left to itself.”

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist

The Illustrated London News (14 December 1907)

“Freedom for common men, which was to have been the fruit of victory, is once more in jeopardy in our own land because it has been taken away from the common men of other lands.”

Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech to the Empire Rally of Youth at the Royal Albert Hall (18 May 1937), quoted in Service of Our Lives (1937), pp. 162-163.
1937
Context: The twenty post-War years have shown that war does not settle the account. There is a balance brought forward. When emancipation is achieved a new slavery may begin. The moment of victory may be the beginning of defeat. The days which saw the framing of the League of Nations saw the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Should both be entered on the credit side? Twenty years ago we should all have said, "Yes"; to-day the reply would be doubtful, for both have belied the hopes of mankind and given place to disillusion. Freedom for common men, which was to have been the fruit of victory, is once more in jeopardy in our own land because it has been taken away from the common men of other lands.

“Hemans gallows ought to be the fate of all such ambitious men who would involve their country in civil wars”

Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) American general and politician, 7th president of the United States

Regarding the resolution of the Nullification Crisis, in a letter to Andrew I. Crawford (1 May 1833).
1830s
Context: Hemans gallows ought to be the fate of all such ambitious men who would involve their country in civil wars, and all the evils in its train that they might reign & ride on its whirlwinds & direct the Storm — The free people of these United States have spoken, and consigned these wicked demagogues to their proper doom.

“It is pre-eminently among the ancient Hebrews that Prophecy is found, not as an accidental or temporary phenomenon, but continuously through many generations. Prophecy is, as it were, the hall-mark of the Hebrew national spirit.”

Ahad Ha'am (1856–1927) Hebrew essayist and thinker

Source: Selected Essays (1904), "Priest and Prophet" (1893), p. 132

“There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Variant: There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.

“To people who've been looked at and considered beautiful, particularly women who relied on it so much… age is quite a challenge. The thing which you've always used, a power, is taken away from you.”

Julie Christie (1940) British actress and activist

"Reflecting on ageing when she was approaching fifty" as quoted in: A Century of Women : The History of Women in Britain and the United States (1997) by Sheila Rowbotham, Viking, p. 475

“It is much more important to be oneself than anything else. Do not dream of influencing other people… Think of things in themselves.”

Virginia Woolf book A Room of One's Own

Source: A Room of One's Own

“In short, I may affirm that one cannot refer to a single quoted prophecy that is not false; or if you would have me speak more mildly, I will only say that they are all ambiguous and doubtful, and are not to be accepted from writers who trifle with things and words.”

Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768) German philosopher

Source: Fragments from Reimarus: Consisting of Brief Critical Remarks on the Object of Jesus and His Disciples as Seen in the New Testament, p. 78

“I’m a member of the Pascua Yaqui Nation and as an indigenous person, the fur trade represents so much more to me than just animal abuse. It represents cultural genocide. They were the foot soldiers of an invasion and conquest in the “new world.” They were the ones who introduced disease. They were the ones who introduced alcoholism. They were the ones who introduced gunpowder and many, many things that led to our decimation.”

Rod Coronado (1966) Native American eco-anarchist and animal rights activist

A Voice for Liberation http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/video/msr/coronado.html

“If this superstitious fear of Spirits were taken away, and with it, Prognostiques from Dreams, false Prophecies, and many other things depending thereon, by which, crafty ambitious persons abuse the simple people, men would be much more fitted then they are for civill Obedience.”

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Thomas Hobbes97

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