I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more
rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe--"That government is best which
governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have. Government
is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The
objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may
also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The
government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused
and perverted before the people can act through it." I first read Thoreau in high school, when he was my topic for a final project in English. My radical Mom suggested him to me (see her webpage link on MY page). I should have known what she was up to... Thoreau was a very influential person writer for me. I suggest to everyone two of his pieces, "Walden", and "Civil Disobedience".
Walden was written as Thoreau took a sabbatical (in a way) from people and spent (I believe) a winter in Walden Woods.
-Excerpt from "Civil Disobedience"
This essay can be read in its entirety at Civil Disobedience
Civil Disobedience was written while Thoreau was in jail for (gasp!) protesting.
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Ray Bradbury(Ray Bradbury, in an article in Playboy on why men read science fiction more than women)
"There are two races of people - men and women -
no matter what the women's libbers would have you pretend.
The male is motivated by toys and science
because men are born with no purpose in the universe except to procreate.
There is lots of time to kill beyond that.
Women, however, are born with a centre. They can create the universe,
mother it, teach it, nurture it. Men read science fiction to
build the future. Women don't need to read it. They are the future.
Most of his other thoughts are more progressive than that one, however.
For a person born before 1950, he's pretty cool.
Tom StoppardAuthor of "Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead". A book that is, among other things, chock full of truth. For instance,
"For all anyone knows, nothing is. Everything has to be taken on trust;
truth is only that which is taken to be true. It's the currency of living.
There may be nothing behind it, but it doesn't make any difference so long
as it is honoured. One acts on assumptions. What do you assume?"