Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.
Tag: Robert A. Heinlein
(1907-1988) American writer
Consider the source
[T]here seems to have been an actual decline in rational thinking. The United States had become a place where entertainers and professional athletes were mistaken for people of importance. They were idolized and treated as leaders; their opinions were sought on everything and they took themselves just as seriously — after all, if an athlete is paid a million or more a year, he knows he is important … so his opinions of foreign affairs and domestic policies must be important, too, even though he proves himself to be ignorant and subliterate every time he opens his mouth.
Violence vs. truth
Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Nations and peoples who forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.
Arms and the man
The police of a state should never be stronger or better armed than the citizenry.
The importance of manners
A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.
Pacifism
Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accept the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay — and claims a halo for his dishonesty.
The wants and the want-nots
Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.
Mind control
Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free.
Country vs. government
Love your country, but never trust its government.
Cost of liberty
Of all the so-called natural human rights that have ever been invented, liberty is least likely to be cheap and is never free of cost.