“The man who gives his own decisions priority over society is a criminal.”
Source: The Stars My Destination (1956), Chapter 14 (p. 221).
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Alfred Bester 18
American science fiction author 1913–1987Related quotes

Kulturphilosophie (1923), Vol. 2 : Civilization and Ethics

Source: 1930s- 1950s, The Future of Industrial Man (1942), p. 115

“Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.”

Draft for a Statement of Human Obligation (1943)
Context: The proportions of good and evil in any society depend partly upon the proportion of consent to that of refusal and partly upon the distribution of power between those who consent and those who refuse.
If any power of any kind is in the hands of a man who has not given total, sincere, and enlightened consent to this obligation such power is misplaced.
If a man has willfully refused to consent, then it is in itself a criminal activity for him to exercise any function, major or minor, public or private, which gives him control over people's lives. All those who, with knowledge of his mind, have acquiesced in his exercise of the function are accessories to the crime.
Any State whose whole official doctrine constitutes an incitement to this crime is itself wholly criminal. It can retain no trace of legitimacy.
Any State whose official doctrine is not primarily directed against this crime in all its forms is lacking in full legitimacy.
Any legal system which contains no provisions against this crime is without the essence of legality. Any legal system which provides against some forms of this crime but not others is without the full character of legality.
Any government whose members commit this crime, or authorize it in their subordinates, has betrayed its function.

Source: 1930s- 1950s, The Future of Industrial Man (1942), p. 28

“The criminalization of debt was the criminalization of the very basis of human society.”
Source: Debt: The First 5,000 Years (2011), Chapter Eleven, "Age of the Great Capitalist Empires", p. 334

“Saddam is a war criminal and there are no two people who can argue over this.”
Source: Asia Times http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FC18Ak01.html
Source: Break-Out from the Crystal Palace (1974), p. 35