Robert

“Search whike thou wilt, and let thy reason goe
To ransome truth even to the Abysse below.
Rally the scattered causes, and that line
Which nature twists be able to untwine.”
― Thomas Browne, The Prose of Sir Thomas Browne

“The practical effect is to convince most high modernists that the certainty of a better future justifies the many short-term sacrifices required to get there. The ubiquity of five-year plans in socialist states is an example of that conviction.”
― James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

“There is no antidote against the Opium of time”
― Thomas Browne, The Prose of Sir Thomas Browne

“The more static, standardized, and uniform a population or social space is, the more legible it is, and the more amenable it is to the techniques of state officials. I am suggesting that many state activities aim at transforming the population, space, and nature under their jurisdiction into the closed systems that offer no surprises and that can best be observed and controlled.”
― James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed