Galt's Gulch
19

LetsShrug's Roark and Mallory post got me thinking

Posted by $ rockymountainpirate 9 years ago to Philosophy
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I really like that exchange between Roark and Mallory. It got me thinking about other great quotes and concepts I've read. Here are a few recently I have recently read. Post quotes that you find valuable.

“If something is wrong, it matters not if a thousand men are for it; you must still oppose it. If something is just, no amount of popular outcry should stay you from your course.”
― Terry Goodkind, Naked Empire

“If you are unwilling to defend your right to your own lives,
then you are merely like mice trying to argue with owls.
You think their ways are wrong.
They think you are dinner.”
― Terry Goodkind, Naked Empire

“Right and wrong are not the product of census.”
― Terry Goodkind, Naked Empire

“People use democracy as a free-floating abstraction disconnected from reality. Democracy in and of itself is not necessarily good. Gang rape, after all, is democracy in action.

All men have the right to live their own life. Democracy must be rooted in a rational philosophy that first and foremost recognizes the right of an individual. A few million Imperial Order men screaming for the lives of a much smaller number of people in the New World may win a democratic vote, but it does not give them the right to those lives, or make their calls for such killing right.

Democracy is not a synonym for justice or for freedom. Democracy is not a sacred right sanctifying mob rule. Democracy is a principle that is subordinate to the inalienable rights of the individual.”
― Terry Goodkind, Naked Empire

“Everyone makes mistakes. How a person deals with their mistakes is a mark of their character.”
― Terry Goodkind, Naked Empire

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  • 12
    Posted by edweaver 9 years ago
    The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests. - Patrick Henry
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  • Posted by freedomforall 9 years ago
    "If I take a lamp and shine it toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on the wall. The lamp is our search for truth, for understanding. Too often, we assume that the light on the wall is God, but the light is not the goal of the search, it is the result of the search. The more intense the search, the brighter the light on the wall. The brighter the light on the wall, the greater the sense of revelation upon seeing it. Similarly, someone who does not search – who does not bring a lantern – sees nothing. What we perceive as God is the by-product of our search for God. It may simply be an appreciation of the light… pure and unblemished… not understanding that it comes from us. Sometimes we stand in front of the light and assume that we are the center of the universe – God looks astonishingly like we do – or we turn to look at our shadow and assume that all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the purpose, which is to use the light of our search to illuminate the wall in all its beauty and in all its flaws; and in so doing, better understand the world around us."
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  • Posted by starznbarz 9 years ago
    This quote, particularly the last portion, defines perfectly my notion of Liberty . "But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

    -Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

    -Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782
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  • Posted by freedomforall 9 years ago
    “There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities; it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.”
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    • Posted by Maritimus 9 years ago
      I think that rational people of character must shape actively, thoughtfully and persistently their future, insuring and protecting their lives, their liberty and their pursuit of happiness.

      Just my opinion.
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    • Posted by fosterj717 9 years ago
      So True! Our national soul is under attack. Already, one can feel the effects of a growing despair along with the gradual loss of hope and freedom. Galt represents the attitude necessary to inoculate ourselves against the growing malaise of the coming storm.
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    • Posted by $ jlc 9 years ago
      Thank you, freedomforall. And then there is:

      "No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power tyrants and dictators cannot stand. The Centauri learned that lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Although it take a thousand years, we will be free."
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      • Posted by freedomforall 9 years ago
        Yes, a G'Kar favorite. (Posted yesterday in this topic;^)
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        • Posted by $ jlc 9 years ago
          Missed it on first read - scanning posts in between work.

          Jan
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          • Posted by freedomforall 9 years ago
            The internet is a demanding mistess, and we all need time away in reality. Glad we have G'Kar admiration in common ;^)
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            • Posted by $ jlc 9 years ago
              Have you seen Jupiter Ascending? (Do not believe the critics - it is a good film.) On the topic of G'Kar, however, Jupiter Ascending made it clear what could be done with re-making B5 using modern effects - I am thinking of a mini-series or a trilogy of movies. Additionally, with pre-planning, one could remedy the error of Strazenski (sp?) not having been able to work some of the earlier threads back into the plot due to threat of cancellation.

              It would be a timely piece, with a theme that needs to be expressed. It is not lost on either of us that B5 became a kinda Gulch.

              Jan
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              • Posted by freedomforall 9 years ago
                So many poorly written Star Trek movies instead. Bang, boom, socialist message.
                Today's audiences need B5 with modern SFX.
                I wish JMS would crowd fund it, probably would raise $10 million+.

                Thanks for the rec on Jupiter Ascending. I haven't seen it, but another respected friend also recommended it, so it's on my list to see.
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                • Posted by $ jlc 9 years ago
                  It has one disparaging comment about profit that made me wince. Other than that, it actually reminded me of a spinoff of one of the B5 episodes. Let's see if you get the same impression.

                  Jan
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  • Posted by LibertyBelle 9 years ago
    What a pleasure to see these denunciations of
    unlimited majority rule. When I was a young kid,
    Democracy was some sort of sacred cow; the no-
    tion of majority rule being always right was pushed
    by my second grade teacher, and I remember be-
    ing indignant against that sort of mob rule even
    then. It was pushed and pushed by seemingly
    everybody for years.How refreshing that at last
    people seem to see the truth about what is
    wrong with it.So it looks like Ayn Rand has had
    some good effect after all.
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  • Posted by fosterj717 9 years ago
    Through its political life-cycle, republics morph into democracies that in turn degenerate under the slovenly demands of the needy and greedy masses ultimately ending in a fascist dictatorship, where all freedom is lost. At what stage do you think we as a nation in now? If he were alive, Cicero would tell you quite emphatically!
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