"'But whom do I treat unjustly,' you say, 'by keeping what is my own?' Tell me, what is your own? What did you bring into this life? From where did you receive it? It is as if someone were to take the first seat in the theater, then bar everyone else from attending, so that one person alone enjoys what is offered for the benefit of all in common — this is what the rich do. They seize common goods before others have the opportunity, then claim them as their own by right of preemption. For if we all took only what was necessary to satisfy our own needs, giving the rest to those who lack, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, and no one would be in need."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Basil of Caesarea, Homily 6, “I Shall Tear Down My Barns,” C. P. Schroeder, trans., in Saint Basil on Social Justice (2009), p. 69
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Enclosure
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Enclosure
14 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Enclosure →
Related Quotes
"γεωμετρῆσαι βούλομαι τὸν ἀέρα ὑμῖν διελεῖν τε κατὰ γύας."
"The poacher ... is asserting a right (and an instinct) belonging to a past time—when for hunting purposes all land wa…"
"The same process of enclosure and forced played out over and over again during the period of European colonization – …"
"Enclosure, once accepted, redefines community. Enclosure undermines the local autonomy of community. ... Enclosure al…"
"The problems with software are just examples of the problems found generally with creativity. Our trend in copyright …"
"As for large landed property, its defenders have always sophistically identified the economic advantages offered by l…"
"When industrial capitalism first started to emerge in the early nineteenth century, its machinations were relatively …"
"Stop to consider how the so-called owners of the land got hold of it. They simply seized it by force, afterwards hiri…"
"The capitalistic system originated in the forcible seizure of natural opportunities and rights by a few, and then con…"
"The first man who, having enclosed a piece of land, thought of saying ‘This is mine’ and found people simple enough t…"