We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day

I have always found Scotland fascinating. They take barley and water and create something more expensive than petrol
– Kwame Owino

Samizdata quote for the day

Entrepreneurs are the leading men of capitalism, the venturesome protagonists who move the plot forward. But economic theory gives them few if any lines to read.

The Economist.

I think that the economics profession is showing a bit more interest in entrepreneurship, at least since the 1980s. The “Austrian” school that gave us the likes of von Mises, Ludwig Lachmann and Israel Kirzner, for instance, puts the entrepreneur pretty much front and centre of the economic picture. For sheer gusto in defending the entrepreneur, there is still to this day no better advocate in my view than George Gilder.

Samizdata quote of the day

Communists for free expression are like vegetarians for veal.

– Perry de Havilland, at Saturday’s march for free expression in London

Samizdata quote of the day

“You will take possession by military force, of the printing establishments of the New York World and Journal of Commerce… and prohibit any further publication thereof… you are therefore commanded forthwith to arrest and imprison… the editors, proprietors and publishers of the aforesaid newspapers”

Order from Abraham Lincoln to General John Dix, May 18, 1864.

Samizdata quote of the day

“The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom is courage”.
Pericles’ Funeral Oration (431 BC)

This quotation was always attached to emails many of us used to get from Dr. Chris R. Tame, Libertarian Alliance founder, who died earlier this week. I find it a highly appropriate quotation.

Samizdata quote of the day

“If there is a businessman who has gone out of his mind and supports the left, I think he must have a lot of skeletons in his cupboard and a lot of things to ask forgiveness for.”

– Silvio Berlusconi quoted in the Financial Times (via Open Europe‘s email list).

Samizdata quote of the day

“This film cost $31 million. With that kind of money I could have invaded some country.”

Clint Eastwood. I wonder what particular country he had in mind.

Samizdata quote of the day

Andrew Sullivan:

It strikes me that people with a secure sense of their own faith are often the least liable to get upset by parodies or comedies about it. Religions may deal in divine truths, but they are run by human beings. And the combination is often funny. True believers know that; and don’t care when they’re made fun of. Insecure believers – and they often need fundamentalism to keep their own souls untroubled by doubt – are the touchiest.

I am writing this in the wee island of Malta, a country which has one of the largest church attendances per head of any country in the world, from what I understand. (The Maltese have churches with the same frequency as golf courses in Florida). And yet the good-natured folk of this island strike me as taking pretty much the sort of robust attitude to their faith as Sully mentions. (Why are you blogging and not on the beach, Ed?)

And interestingly, his point applies just as forcefully to other, non-religious beliefs too. Humour can be a weapon but it is also a shield.

Samizdata quote of the day

It is the patriotic duty of all of us to skip political commercials.

Craig Newmark, founder of Craig’s List, speaking at SXSW

Samizdata quote for the day

Don’t ever become a pessimist… a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.

Robert A. Heinlein.

Samizdata quote of the day

Tessa Jowell is the first British minister in recorded history to retire from her family on order to spend more time with her government.
– Andy Hamilton

Samizdata quote for the day

“We have paid dearly for idealizing the state. There is no virtue in denying the law of gravity, and there should be no virtue in denying the limitations of government. Good intentions are no excuse for perpetual failure and growing oppression. The more we glorify government, the more liberties we will lose. Freedom is largely a choice between allowing people to follow their own interests or forcing them to follow the interests of politicians, bureaucrats, politicians and campaign contributors.”

James Bovard, “Lost Rights”, cataloguing the destruction of liberties in the USA during the Clinton years. The message applies everywhere and at any time, of course.