Quotes about ruling
page 33

Marcus Aurelius photo

“Use these rules then, and trouble thyself about nothing else.”

X, 2
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X

Maimónides photo
Kage Baker photo
Alfred Jules Ayer photo

“While moral rules may be propounded by authority the fact that these were so propounded would not validate them.”

Alfred Jules Ayer (1910–1989) English philosopher

"The Meaning of Life".
The Meaning of Life and Other Essays (1990)

Robert Sheckley photo

“The method of rule of the tyrant and the oligarch is quite simply to clobber, coerce, or overawe all or most other groups in the interest of their own.”

Bernard Crick (1929–2008) British political theorist and democratic socialist

Source: In Defence Of Politics (Second Edition) – 1981, Chapter 1, The Nature Of Political Rule, p. 18.

Aron Ra photo

“Remember, [in the Bible] it's adultery only if the woman is already married. It doesn't matter if the man is married. If he is, she may just become another one of his wives, and a man can have sex with other women who aren't his wives, and that's not cheating either, as long as they live with him, because a man is also allowed to have concubines, and a concubine is a sort of sexual servant who serves no other purpose and has no claim to your estate. Your wife may not have a claim to your estate either, because when you die your wife may become your brother's sexual property. That's how the Bible defines marriage! The Bible does not prohibit multiple wives or incest either. In fact, both are promoted. However, when your father dies, your mother does not become your wife, and you can't inherit any of his other wives either, and the reason that the Bible gives for that is because that would be like looking up your father's skirt… So, a man can have multiple wives and a collection of personal harlots, but he can also have sex with his slaves, and that's not cheating either. You've heard of friends with benefits? You can call this your property rights. That's the only way that makes sense, because according to the Bible all women are property, and property doesn't have rights. Now, some people equate having sex with slaves to rape, because the slave doesn't have any choice. But, according to the Bible, women don't have any choice anyway, and rape can be a prelude to matrimony; if you're a Bronze Age Israelite and you see some young cutie walking unescorted, if you like her, you want her, you can have her, even if she doesn't want you. Now, if you rape a married woman, that's a death sentence for both of you (because the Bible is stupid like that). But if she's not promised to someone else, and you rape her and you get caught, you have to pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she's yours. He may not want her back after that, even his own child, because an unmarried woman who wasn't a virgin was considered damaged goods back then, so they had this rule that "if you pop it, you buy it." So your victim becomes your bride and you're stuck together forever, and can never get divorced (so be careful who you rape). There's actually a cheaper [and] easier way to get a bride; if a man takes a wife and decides he doesn't like her, if he can prove she wasn't a virgin (or if he can convince other people that was probably not a virgin), she she will be murdered on her father's doorstep because, according to the god of infinite mercy, that's the moral thing to do. But if she can prove that she was a virgin, then she must remain married forever to the man who hates her, because that's divine wisdom too. That unpleasant arrangement for both of you will also cost you a hundred shekels, whereas you can marry your rape victim for half the price. So, if you're a complete loser, and you can't get any woman who appeals to you by the normal way, just rape whoever you like and she's yours forever.”

Aron Ra (1962) Aron Ra is an atheist activist and the host of the Ra-Men Podcast

Youtube, Other, Biblical Family Values https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bldw8X5apnY (July 11, 2015)

Brian Leiter photo
Eugene V. Debs photo
Lester del Rey photo
Irving Langmuir photo

“In general, the rate of evaporation (m) of a substance in a high vacuum is related to the pressure (p) of the saturated vapor by the equation m=\sqrt{\frac{M}{2\pi RT}}p. Red phosphorus and some other substances probably form exceptions to this rule.”

Irving Langmuir (1881–1957) American chemist and physicist

Irving Langmuir, "The Constitution and Fundamental Properties of Solids and Liquids. Part I. Solids.", Journal of the American Chemical Society, September 5, 1916

Washington Irving photo

“His wife "ruled the roost," and in governing the governor, governed the province, which might thus be said to be under petticoat government.”

Washington Irving (1783–1859) writer, historian and diplomat from the United States

Book IV, ch. 4.
Knickerbocker's History of New York http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13042 (1809)

Democritus photo

“Man should know from this rule that he is cut off from truth.”

Democritus Ancient Greek philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, founder of the atomic theory

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Fragments

John F. Kennedy photo
Sean O`Casey photo

“It's my rule never to lose me temper till it would be dethrimental to keep it.”

Fluther Good, Act 2
The Plough and the Stars (1926)

“Keynes ultimately placed his hopes for good government in exceptional men. The focus in Hayek’s work was rules.”

Alan O. Ebenstein (1959) American political scientist, educator and author

Hayek's Journey: The Mind of Friedrich Hayek (2003)

Judith Martin photo
Paul Gabriël photo

“.. that one [a tree study in Gabriël's studio] is from my early times; I don't make them that way anymore; look how the thing is painted..; and those days my teachers told me that nothing would come of me in this way. What kind of folks were they? [o. a. his early and short teacher Koekoek, c. 1844-45] And which guys belonged to them? Well, let's keep mum about that; all those guys are dead already. But those days [c. 1840's] it was the ruling idea to use nature only as a tool; she had to be embellished later with imagination and so on …. imagination …. the stupidest thing in the world. (L. de Haes asked him: Do you think imagination is so improper?) Improper, I think it is simply an unhealthy trait. You see; imagination is the proper way to insanity. Imagine that you start painting from your imagination without knowing nature; after all, there will be no result whatsoever. All those people of imagination imagine so much, and it is the greatest misfortune you can have in life, you know what it is good for: to idealize your faults.”

Paul Gabriël (1828–1903) painter (1828-1903)

translation from the Dutch original: Fons Heijnsbroek
version in original Dutch / citaat van Paul Gabriël, in Nederlands: ..da's er een [ een boom-studie] uit m'n eersten tijd; zoo doe 'k het niet meer; kijk dat ding eens geschilderd wezen; en in dien tijd zeiden mijn leermeesters dat er op die manier niets van mij terecht zou komen. Wat een lui waren dat hè [o.a. zijn tijdelijke vroege leermeester Koekoek, c. 1844-45]? En wie waren dat zoo al? Ja daar zullen we maar over zwijgen; die menschen zijn nu al dood; maar 't was toen de opvatting, de natuur alleen als hulpmiddel te gebruiken; zij moest nog verfraaid worden met verbeelding en zoo al meer .... imaginatie.... 't stomste wat er op de wereld is. (L. de Haes: Vindt u verbeelding dan zoo verwerpelijk?) Verwerpelijk, och ik vind het eenvoudig een ziekelijke eigenschap, zie je wel; verbeelding, dat is de weg naar de krankzinnigheid. Verbeeld je dat je uit je verbeelding gaat schilderen zonder de natuur te kennen; daar komt immers niets van terecht. Al die menschen van verbeelding verbeelden zich zoo veel, en 't is 't grootste ongeluk wat je op de wereld kan hebben, weet je waar 't alleen goed voor is: om je gebreken te idealiseeren.
Quote of Gabriël, 1893; as cited by L. de Haes, in 'P.J.C. Gabriël'; published in Elsevier's geïllustreerd maandschrift 3., April/May 1893, pp. 453-473
1880's + 1890's

Gottfried Helnwein photo
As'ad AbuKhalil photo

“I have lived half of my life in "Western society" and never encountered those principles [listed by the NYT as "Western" ]. What is wrong with me. … So Mr. Bush stands for "gender equality, religious freedom, scientific inquiry and the rule of law" and I have never noticed?”

As'ad AbuKhalil (1960) professor

...the principles of Western societies... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/books/review/letter.t.html
The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2007/03/given-her-background-in-repressed.html

John Stuart Mill photo
Sinclair Lewis photo
Will Eisner photo
Peter F. Drucker photo

“The rule should be to minimize the need for people to get together to accomplish anything.”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

Source: 1960s - 1980s, MANAGEMENT: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1973), Part 2, p. 548

George Saintsbury photo
Charles Sanders Peirce photo
Bell Hooks photo
African Spir photo
Thomas Jefferson photo

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51 percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

There are no indications that Jefferson ever stated anything like this; slight variants of this statement seem to have become widely attributed to Jefferson only since its appearance in three books of 2004: The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey (2004) by Ken Schoolland, p. 235; Damn-ocracy — Government From Hell!: The Political, Economic And Money System (2004) by Wendall Dennis and Reason And Reality : A Novel (2004) by Mishrilal Jain, p. 232; see also info at Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/Democracy_is_nothing_more_than_mob_rule.
Misattributed

Noam Chomsky photo
Lucius Shepard photo
James Gleick photo
George W. Bush photo
Mary McCarthy photo

“[B]ureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism.”

Mary McCarthy (1912–1989) American writer

"The Vita Activa", pp. 161–162
On the Contrary: Articles of Belief 1946–1961 (1961)

Howard Bloom photo
David Korten photo
Thomas Flanagan (political scientist) photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Ben Carson photo

“We don't necessarily have to play by the strict rules if we can find a way that works better, as long as it's reasonable and doesn't hurt anybody.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

Source: Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (1990), p. 84

Émile Durkheim photo

“Methodological rules are for science what rules of law and custom are for conduct.”

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) French sociologist (1858-1917)

Source: The Division of Labor in Society (1893), p. 364

Karel Čapek photo
Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough photo
William Ewart Gladstone photo
Adelaide Anne Procter photo

“If thou couldst trust, poor soul!
In Him who rules the whole,
Thou wouldst find peace and rest;
Wisdom and sight are well, but trust is best.”

Adelaide Anne Procter (1825–1864) English poet and songwriter

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 597.

Amir Taheri photo

“As some of us noted before Saddam Hussein’s 2003 fall, banning the Ba’ath as such was a mistake – for, in a sense, the Ba’ath had also been a victim of Saddam’s savage rule. The Ba’ath, modeled on European fascist parties, was never a democratic movement. Yet, before Saddam turned it into an empty shell to be filled with his personality cult, it had been a genuine political movement, representing a significant segment of Iraqi opinion. It had started as a predominantly Shiite party seeking to downplay sectarianism by promoting pan-Arab ideas. Saddam turned it into a sectarian party, first dominated by the Arab Sunni minority and eventually by his Tikriti clan. The wisest course would’ve been to let those Ba’athists who had been purged, imprisoned and exiled under Saddam to reclaim their party and rebuild it with full respect for Iraq’s new democratic and pluralist political system. Those Ba’athists who committed crimes were known to all and could’ve been blacklisted and tried as individuals. The blanket ban suddenly transformed some 1.4 million civil servants, including tens of thousands of teachers and medical doctors and some half a million military personnel, into pariahs simply because they’d been nominal Ba’ath members. Yet most had joined simply to protect their careers under a brutal regime.”

Amir Taheri (1942) Iranian journalist

"Iraq: Reconciling with the Ba'ath" http://nypost.com/2008/01/16/iraq-reconciling-with-the-baath/, New York Post (January 16, 2008).
New York Post

Peter Cook photo
Henry Cabot Lodge photo
Koenraad Elst photo
Augustus De Morgan photo
Harry V. Jaffa photo

“The United States is engaged today in a great mission to spread democracy to the Middle East, beginning with Afghanistan, and continuing with Iraq. The inhabitants of Iraq are divided into many groups and factions that hate and distrust each other. The attitude of Sunni and Shia Muslims toward each other resembles that of Catholic and Protestant Christians in the sixteenth century, which persist today in northern Ireland, each regarding the other as heretics. Under the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, the minority of Sunnis persecuted the majority Shias. It is understandable that the minority Sunnis are today resisting majority rule, while the majority Shia favor it. The Sunnis clearly believe that majority rule by Shia will be used as a means of retribution and revenge. The Sunnis look upon majority rule by the Shia the way the South looked upon the election of Lincoln in 1860. It is inconceivable to the Sunnis that the rule of the Shia majority will be anything other than tyranny. Indeed, it is inconceivable to them that any political power, whether of a minority or a majority, would be non-tyrannical. The idea of non-tyrannical government is alien to their history and their experience. They regard our assertions of Jeffersonian or Lincolnian principles as mere hypocrisy, as they see no other form of rule other than that of force. Our government assumes that the people of the Middle East, like people elsewhere, seek freedom for others no less than for themselves. But that is an assumption that has not yet been confirmed by experience.”

Harry V. Jaffa (1918–2015) American historian and collegiate professor

2000s, The Central Idea (2006)

Alfred Denning, Baron Denning photo

“Limitation is not a matter of justice. It is a rule of public policy which has its origin in history and its justification in convenience.”

Alfred Denning, Baron Denning (1899–1999) British judge

The Bramley Moore [1964] P 200 at 220, commenting on the limitation of liability in maritime claims.
Judgments

“It is almost a general rule that nations do not decline gradually. Instead they fall abruptly from their greatest heights.”

Pierre Stephen Robert Payne (1911–1983) British lecturer, novelist, historian, poet and biographer

Ibn Khaldun and Machiavelli, p. 147
The Corrupt Society - From Ancient Greece To Present-Day America (1975)

Markos Moulitsas photo
Charles Bowen photo
Meir Kahane photo
Peter F. Drucker photo
Jonah Goldberg photo

“States have a habit of forming when the rules say “line starts here for free stuff.” Whoever manages the line becomes the “state” after a while.”

Jonah Goldberg (1969) American political writer and pundit

Twitter post https://twitter.com/JonahNRO/status/1049835451903815680 (9 October 2018)
2010s, 2018

Douglas MacArthur photo
Louis Althusser photo
Edmund Spenser photo

“Ill can he rule the great, that cannot reach the small.”

Canto 2, stanza 43
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book V

Jean Baptiste Massillon photo
L. Frank Baum photo
Robert A. Heinlein photo
John Godfrey Saxe photo
Robert E. Howard photo
Walter Benjamin photo

“The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the "state of emergency" in which we live is not the exception but the rule.”

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German literary critic, philosopher and social critic (1892-1940)

Source: (1940), VIII

Friedrich Engels photo
Alfred de Zayas photo
Emma Goldman photo

“Economic responsibility goes with military strength and an undue share in the costs of peacekeeping. Free riders are perhaps more noticeable in this area than in the economy, where a number of rules in trade, capital movements, payments and the like have been evolved and accepted as legitimate. Free ridership means that disproportionate costs must be borne by responsible nations, which must on occasion take care of the international or system interest at some expense in falling short of immediate goals. This is a departure from the hard­ nosed school of international relations in political science, represented especially perhaps by Hans Morgenthau and Henry Kissinger, who believe that national interest and the balance of power constitute a stable system. Leadership, moreover, had overtones of the white man's burden, father knows best, the patronizing attitude of the lady of the manor with her Christmas baskets. The requirement, moreover, is for active, and not merely passive responsibility of the German—Japanese variety. With free riders, and the virtually certain emergency of thrusting newcomers, passivity is a recipe for disarray. The danger for world stability is the weakness of the dollar, the loss of dedication of the United States to the international system's interest, and the absence of candidates to fill the resultant vacua.”

Charles P. Kindleberger (1910–2003) American economic historian

"Economic Responsibility", The Second Fred Hirsch Memorial Lecture, Warwick University, 6 March 1980, republished in Comparative Political Economy: A Retrospective (2003)

Ernesto Che Guevara photo
Samuel Butler photo

“Painters should remember that the eye, as a general rule, is a good, simple, credulous organ — very ready to take things on trust if it be told them with any confidence of assertion.”

Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist

The Credulous Eye
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part IX - A Painter's Views on Painting

Silvio Berlusconi photo
Isaac Asimov photo

“Inertia! Our ruling class knows one law; no change. Despotism! They know one rule; force. Maldistribution! They know one desire; to hold what is theirs.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation and Empire (1952), Chapter 11 “Bride and Groom”; in part II, “The Mule” originally published under the same title in Astounding (November-December 1945)

Margaret Mead photo

“A good skeptical mind doesn't waste itself on drugs or ideology, and prefers to break the rules in our minds, in the form of humor, rather than in real life.”

Mark Rosenfelder American language inventor

From an elegy http://www.zompist.com/dfcdead.html to the Dysfunctional Family Circus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysfunctional_Family_Circus

David Brewster photo
Jon Courtenay Grimwood photo
Harry V. Jaffa photo
John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“It's a rule worth having in mind. Income almost always flows along the same axis as power but in the opposite direction.”

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) American economist and diplomat

Source: The Age of Uncertainty (1977), Chapter 1, p. 13

“From its inception, the fascist arrangement has attempted to create the illusion of a mass society in which the traditional capitalist ruling class would continue to play its leading role.”

George Jackson (activist) (1941–1971) activist, Marxist, author, member of the Black Panther Party, and co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family

Source: Blood in My Eye (1971), p. 121

Stephen Wolfram photo

“I'm committed to seeing this project done. To see if within this decade we can finally hold in our hands the rule for our universe, and know where our universe lies in the space of all possible universes.”

Stephen Wolfram (1959) British-American computer scientist, mathematician, physicist, writer and businessman

"Computing a Theory of Everything" (2010)

John Holt (Lord Chief Justice) photo

“I do not pretend to dispense equity at large, but only by the consent of the parties, upon a rule of Court.”

John Holt (Lord Chief Justice) (1642–1710) English lawyer and Lord Chief Justice of England

Anonymous (1699), 3 Salk. 213.