Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher
The Ayn Rand Column ‘Introducing Objectivism’
Source: The Anarchist Cookbook (1971), Chapter Three: "Natural, Nonlethal, and Lethal Weapons", p. 93.
Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher
The Ayn Rand Column ‘Introducing Objectivism’
George Henry Lewes (1817–1878) British philosopher
The Principles of Success in Literature (1865)
Context: A man must be himself convinced if he is to convince others. The prophet must be his own disciple, or he will make none. Enthusiasm is contagious: belief creates belief. There is no influence issuing from unbelief or from languid acquiescence. This is peculiarly noticeable in Art, because Art depends on sympathy for its influence, and unless the artist has felt the emotions he depicts we remain unmoved: in proportion to the depth of his feeling is our sympathetic response; in proportion to the shallowness or falsehood of his presentation is our coldness or indifference.
Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …
Characterizations of Existentialism (1944)
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist
1790s, First Principles of Government (1795)
Context: An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
“Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying..”
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
Richard M. Weaver (1910–1963) American scholar
Source: Ideas have Consequences (1948), p. 183.
“Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”
Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist
“Civilisation is the distance that man has placed between himself and his own excreta.”
Brian W. Aldiss (1925–2017) British science fiction author
Source: The Dark Light Years
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement