Conservatism Quotes Flashcards
(30 cards)
Ayn Rand on society
‘Civilisation is the process of setting man free from men’
Rand on society/state
‘Collectivism holds that the individual has no rights’
Rand on human nature
‘Supremacy of reason’
Hobbes on a natural state
‘Poor, solitary, nasty, brutish and short’
Hobbes’ social contract theory
- People sacrifice freedom for law and order
Hobbes on authority
‘It can never be that war shall preserve life, and peace destroy it’s
Hobbes on human imperfection
‘The source of every crime is some defect of the understanding’
Nozick on the state
Natural justice - justice is served by considering what would occur naturally, without state interference
Nozick on the economy
Taxation is ‘legalised theft’
Nozick on the economy/hierarchy
Welfare is ‘on a par with forced labour’
Nozick on the state
‘How much room do individual rights leave for the state’
Oakeshott on tradition/pragmatism
‘A known good is not lightly to be surrendered for an unknown better’
Oakeshott on human imperfection
‘Boundless and bottomless’ - on the political world
Oakeshott on tradition
‘To prefer the familiar to the unknown’
Burke on paternalism/society
‘Good order is the foundation of all good things’
Burke on paternalism/society
‘Monarchy, aristocracy and property’
Burke on paternalism/organic society
‘Natural aristocracy’
Burke on tradition
‘The law of our creator’
Burke on pragmatism
‘Change in order to conserve’
Chesterton on tradition
‘Democracy of the dead’
Thatcher on society
‘No such thing as society, only individuals and families’
De Maistre on human imperfection
‘Man in general, if reduced to himself, is too wicked to be free’
De Maistre on paternalism
‘Willing and complete subordination to the master’
Thatcher on the state
‘Very strong government in that role’
