WIST Quotations

Basil of Caesarea -- “To the Rich [Ὁμιλία πρὸς τοὺς πλουτούντας],” sermon (c. 368) [tr. Schroeder (2009)]

Dave — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 13:33:17 +0000

Nothing withstands the influence of wealth. Everything submits to its tyranny, everything cowers at its dominion.

[Οὐδὲν ὑφίσταται τὴν βίαν τοῦ πλούτου· Πάντα ὑποκύπτει τῇ τυραννίδι, πάντα ὑποπτήσσει τὴν δυναστείαν.]

Basil of Caesarea (AD 330–378) Christian bishop, theologian, monasticist, Doctor of the Church [Saint Basil the Great, Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας]
“To the Rich [Ὁμιλία πρὸς τοὺς πλουτούντας],” sermon (c. 368) [tr. Schroeder (2009)]
(Source)

(Source (Greek))

Lippmann, Walter -- “The Indispensable Opposition,” The Atlantic Monthly (Aug 1939)

Dave — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 16:39:02 +0000

The national unity of a free people depends upon a sufficiently even balance of political power to make it impracticable for the administration to be arbitrary and for the opposition to be revolutionary and irreconcilable. Where that balance no longer exists, democracy perishes. For unless all the citizens of a state are forced by circumstances to compromise, unless they feel that they can affect policy but that no one can wholly dominate it, unless by habit and necessity they have to give and take, freedom cannot be maintained.

Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American journalist and author
“The Indispensable Opposition,” The Atlantic Monthly (Aug 1939)
(Source)

Nietzsche, Friedrich -- The Wanderer and His Shadow (1880)

Dave — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 14:10:37 +0000

Better perish than hate and fear, and twice rather perish than make oneself hated and feared — this must someday become the highest maxim for every single commonwealth.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher and poet
The Wanderer and His Shadow (1880)