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February 27, 2007
what liberty?
Liberty. What liberty? Equal liberty for everyone to do anything he wants within the limits of the law. When may you do anything you want to? When you have millions. Does liberty give each person a million? No. What is a person without a million? The person without a million is not the one who does anything he wants to but the one with whom they do anything they want.
It seems that they indeed offer the man a guarantee, promise to feed him and give him drink and to provide him with work, and for this they demand of him a little drop of his personal freedom for the sake of the general welfare, a very, very little drop. But no, a man does not want to live even according to these calculations, for even a little drop is hard for him to give up. In his foolishness it seems to him that this is a prison and that he is better off all by himself, because that way he is free. And in his freedom, you know, he is beaten, he is offered no work, he dies of hunger, and he has no freedom at all; and yet it seems to this odd fellow that he is better off with his freedom.
Dostoevsky - Winter Notes
Posted by amin at February 27, 2007 12:34 AM