Michel de Montaigne Quotes
It would be better to have no laws at all, than to have too many.
Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays of Montaigne. Translated by Donald M. Frame, Stanford University Press, 1958, p. 815.
Spinoza’s ideas were considered so radical and dangerous that he was the only man in history who was excommunicated by the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner. Skinner was speaking in a scientific, technical sense. No one is free, in the sense that he is not conditioned by his interaction with his environment and his society. However different cultures can condition its members to act independently from different forces in society and behave originally. Everyone is conditioned by his/her society; the conditioning methods are more or less coercive. Those that use negative reinforcers tend to be tyrannical, cruel and inhumane. Those that use positive reinforcers tend to be what we call free,
First Published American Indian Author. His last public speech.
The Grammar Curmudgeon
The country had just gotten rid of Prohibition. However, there was substantial censorship of literature on the part of the Post Office, then a government agency. Abortion was then illegal in every state, and in many states it was a criminal offence to sell or distribute condoms. Homosexuality was a crime in most states and it disqualified a person from Federal employment as did a woman who had borne a child out of wedlock. Films were censored, and in some states, the only legal position for a married couple to have intercourse was the so called “missionary position”. All others were often a crime. Store owners could not open on Sunday, and Christian prayers were compulsory in many areas of society.
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, also known as Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. His work is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with intellectual insight. His massive volume Essais contains some of the most influential essays ever written.
