One of the luxuries of working in a used book store is the ability to browse a variety of books at my leisure. Here are a few quotes from this summer's readings:
For a real-time book quote update, go here
In preparation for Independence Day, I'm brushing up on some colonial American philosophy...
John Stuart Mill -- On Liberty
The aim, therefore, of patriots, was to set limits to the power which the ruler should be suffered to exercise over the community.
The will of the people, moreover, practically means, the will of th emost numerous or the most active part of the people; the majority, or those who succeed in making themselves accepted as the majority: the people, consequently, may desire to oppress a part of their number; and precautions are as much needed against this, as against any other abuse of power.
Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practises a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling...
Biophilia Hypothesis -- E.O. Wilson
The brain evolved in a biocentric world, not a machine-regulated world. 32
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