A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible. But since, in practice, no one is infallible, it is frequently necessary to rearrange past events in order to show that this or that mistake was not made, or that this or that imaginary triumph actually happened. Then, again, every major change in policy demands a corresponding change of doctrine and a revaluation of prominent historical figures. --George Orwell (1903-1950), "The Prevention of Literature", _Polemic_ (January 1946)
If you start from a belief that the most knowledgeable person on earth does not have even one percent of the total knowledge on earth, that shoots down social engineering, economic central planning, judicial activism and innumerable other ambitious notions favored by the political left. --Thomas Sowell (1930-), "Don't Be So Sure", _National Review_ May 16, 2007 http://www.nationalreview.com/article/220951/dont-be-so-sure-thomas-sowell
It is a fact that no paternal government, whether ancient or modern, ever shrank from regimenting its subjects’ minds, beliefs, and opinions. If one abolishes man’s freedom to determine his own consumption, one takes all freedoms away. The naive advocates of government interference with consumption delude themselves when they neglect what they disdainfully call the philosophical aspect of the problem. They unwittingly support the case for censorship, inquisition, intolerance, and the persecution of dissenters. -Ludwig Von Mises (1881-1973), _Human Action_
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