
The ABC of Relativity (1925), p. 166
1920s
Variant: "Most people would rather die than think; many do."
A 58
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook A (1765-1770)
The ABC of Relativity (1925), p. 166
1920s
Variant: "Most people would rather die than think; many do."
Il ne s'est jamais rien fait de grand dans le monde que par le courage et la fermeté d'un seul homme qui brave les préjugés de la multitude.
[in Gracchus Babeuf avec les Egaux, Jean-Marc Shiappa, Les éditions ouvrières, 1991, 43, 27082 2892-7]
On prejudices
Quoted in "One Man Takes Aim At Prejudice With Storybook" at The Washington Post (20 January 2008) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/19/AR2008011902412.html.
John Plunkett Tarbuck set for C4 return, MediaGuardian, Monday 11 November 2002 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002/nov/11/broadcasting.channel41
Television interview ("On clarity and exact thinking" - available on youtube)
1960s
Alan Moore on Anarchism (2009)
Context: I suppose I first got involved in radical politics as a matter of course, during the late 1960s when it was a part of the culture. The counterculture, as we called it then, was very eclectic and all-embracing. It included fashions of dress, styles of music, philosophical positions, and, inevitably, political positions. And although there would be various political leanings coming to the fore from time to time, I suppose that the overall consensus political standpoint was probably an anarchist one. Although probably back in those days, when I was a very young teenager, I didn’t necessarily put it into those terms. I was probably not familiar enough with the concepts of anarchy to actually label myself as such. It was later, as I went into my twenties and started to think about things more seriously that I came to a conclusion that basically the only political standpoint that I could possibly adhere to would be an anarchist one.
It furthermore occurred to me that, basically, anarchy is in fact the only political position that is actually possible. I believe that all other political states are in fact variations or outgrowths of a basic state of anarchy; after all, when you mention the idea of anarchy to most people they will tell you what a bad idea it is because the biggest gang would just take over. Which is pretty much how I see contemporary society. We live in a badly developed anarchist situation in which the biggest gang has taken over and have declared that it is not an anarchist situation – that it is a capitalist or a communist situation. But I tend to think that anarchy is the most natural form of politics for a human being to actually practice. All it means, the word, is no leaders. An-archon. No leaders.
And I think that if we actually look at nature without prejudice, we find that this is the state of affairs that usually pertains.
No. 1.
Seventy Resolutions (1722-1723)