Terry Pratchett Quotes
You will have to look a long way before you find a bunch of scum-suckers more greedy, humourless and deserving of death than the suits in the music business.
Pratchett, Terry. Soul Music. Victor Gollancz, 1994.
See {586119} for an earlier English version of this point.
Although he was the first Western philosopher to emerge from the dark ages, he was one of the great advocates for freedom of speech and freedom of thought. He not only was publicly critical of many authority figures of the day, but he refused Pope Nicholas I’s orders to submit his work to Church censorship. He was supported by King Charles nonetheless, but various church councils condemned many of his writings. Ironically, one of his works that caused so much criticism was a defense of one of the views of Hincmar, the cleric who he attacked in the quotation. The radical notion was that the destiny of an individual is not totally dependent upon God, but that man has been given free will and that has some part in determining salvation.
Summarizing his conclusions of the Judiciary Committee investigations regarding Wall Street and the bankers' role in the Great Depression:
O, you anarchic scum, you cowardly murderers, you leeches upon honest labor, you midnight assassins!
Otis and his paper were virulently anti-labor. See {617172} .
It was common then for people to die in tenements as a result of shoddy construction, poisoning by sewer gas, and unsanitary conditions. As the result of the efforts of reformers like Riis and Theodore Roosevelt health inspectors were appointed and errant builders went to jail—in some cases for manslaughter.
This is one of the FDR quotations, which his opponents then, and many conservatives later, characterized as “class warfare.” This type of accusation has in part protected business leaders and those who control wealth from public accountability. Similar business leader resentment was levied against President Obama when he criticized the Bankers and Wall Street leaders whose behavior, in great part, was the cause of the economic meltdown and recession of 2008.
The bill passed, but Jackson, true to his word, vetoed it.
His father Cornelius, one of the great, creative industrialists of America, was not at all of the same mindset and saw corporations and the Railroads as having an important role in America with substantial obligations to the society which enabled the economic development and supported the railroads. He described his son as a “blockhead”. William goes down in American history as the arrogant industrialist and capitalist whose wealth was produced by his talent of being born to the right father who built the great empire.
It took until the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt until monopolies were regulated. Like many of the rapacious businessmen of his era, bribery of public officials was so common that he had no problem admitting this to a reporter who was interviewing him. His father Cornelius, one of the great, creative industrialists of America, was not at all of the same mindset or the same corrupt character and saw corporations and the Railroads as having an important role in America with substantial obligations to the society which enabled the economic development and supported the railroads. He described his son as a “blockhead”. William goes down in American history as the arrogant industrialist and capitalist whose wealth was produced by his talent of being born to the right father who built the great empire. At that time the bribery of members of Congress was direct with cash going directly into their pockets, unlike modern times where it is indirect in the form of Campaign contributions.
At the time, there was generally only a single newspaper in an area in New Zealand.
Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE was an English humorist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels.
