In Morals As In Politics

Europeans Used To Say Americans Were Puritanical. Then They Discovered That We Were Not Puritans. So Now They Say That We Are Obsessed With Sex.

To Care For The Quarrels Of The Past, To Identify Oneself Passionately With A Cause That Became, Politically Speaking, A Losing Cause With The Birth Of The Modern World, Is To Experience A Kind Of Straining Against Reality, A Rebellious Nonconformity That, Again, Is Rare In America, Where Children Are Instructed In The Virtues Of The System They Live Under, As Though History Had Achieved A Happy Ending In American Civics.

For Self-realization, A Rebel Demands A Strong Authority, A Worthy Opponent, God To His Lucifer.

I Was Going To Get Myself Recognized At Any Price. If I Could Not Win Fame By Goodness, I Was Ready To Do It By Badness.

Liberty, As It Is Conceived By Current Opinion, Has Nothing Inherent About It; It Is A Sort Of Gift Or Trust Bestowed On The Individual By The State Pending Good Behavior.