Economic Harmonies

I especially like the last paragraph.

Are we really certain that the mechanism of society, like the mechanism of the heavenly bodies or the mechanism of the human body, is subject to general laws? Are we really certain that it is a harmoniously organized whole? Or is it not true that what is most notable in society is the absence of all order?

So ingenious, so powerful, then, is the social mechanism that every man, even the humblest, obtains in one day more satisfactions than he could produce for himself in several centuries.

Let us note that man is made in such a way that he seeks pleasure and shuns pain. From this source, I agree, come all the evils of society: war, slavery, monopoly, privilege; but from this source also come all the good things of life, since the satisfaction of wants and the avoidance of suffering are the motives of human action.

–Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850), Economic Harmonies (1850)

This is a really cool quote exemplifying the fear created by the free exchange of ideas.

If not stopped, the 21 million-plus and growing (Napster & Gnutella) community could usher in a cultural apocalypse that threatens to plunge the world into darkness not seen since the turn of the last millennium.

–Richard Parsons, AOL-Time Warner executive