#innocence

There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for me to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed or enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. ↗

— Ayn Rand

#guilt #injustice #innocence #innocent #justice

World & people only seem unlovable due to toxins & lies they've been fed. Release distortions of mind. Return all to innocence & freedom ↗

— Jay Woodman

#distortion #freedom #innocence #lies #mind

Bill Gates (and his successor at Microsoft, Ray Ozzie) are famous for taking annual reading vacations. During the year they deliberately cultivate a stack of reading material—much of it unrelated to their day-to-day focus at Microsoft—and then they take off for a week or two and do a deep dive into the words they’ve stockpiled. By compressing their intake into a matter of days, they give new ideas additional opportunities to network among themselves, for the simple reason that it’s easier to remember something that you read yesterday than it is to remember something you read six months ago. ↗

— Steven Johnson

#ideas #innocencevation #inspiration #reading #self-improvement

O how can wicked men seem so steady and untouched with such black hearts, while poor innocents stand like malefactors before them! ↗

— Samuel Richardson

#evil-people #innocence #men

Adults had the notion that juveniles needed to suffer. Only when they had suffered enough to wipe out most of their naturally joyous spirits and innocence were they staid enough to be considered mature. An adult was essentially a broken-down child. ↗

— Piers Anthony

#innocence #suffering #nature

Eccentricity is not, as some would believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd. ↗

— Edith Sitwell

#emotion #philosophy #innocence

In self-defense and in defense of the innocent, cowardice is the only sin. ↗

— Dean Koontz

#cowardice #sin #innocence

We need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children ↗

— Howard Zinn

#innocence

The dangerous one was Ren. Innocent though the white tiger he appeared to be, he was a compelling predator. Utterly irresistible -- like a Venus flytrap. So alluring, so tempting, so deadly. Everything he did was seductive and possibly hazardous to my health. ↗

— Colleen Houck

#kelsey #ren #tiger-s-curse #tiger-saga #innocence

My parents had torn through my innocence and left me with a tar-like substance that was corrupting what was left of me. I could feel it at night; slithering and curling around my soul as it slowly devoured me. It was draining my energy and replacing it with an evil I was afraid to confront. ↗

— J.D. Stroube

#devour #energy #horror #innocence #paranormal-ya