Left Libertarians

"A planet of playthings We dance on the strings of powers we cannot perceive The stars aren't aligned or the gods are maligned Blame is better to give than receive -- Freewill (1980)"

"Danger plus survival equals fun. --From A Work in Progress"

"To you, is it movement, or is it action? Is it contact or just reaction? And you, revolution, just resistance? Is it living, or just existence? -- The Enemy Within (Part I of 'Fear') (1984)"

"You can surrender Without a prayer But never really pray Pray without surrender You can fight Without ever winning But never ever win Without a fight -- Resist (1996)"

"They say there are strangers who threaten us In our immigrants and infidels They say there is strangeness too dangerous In our theaters and bookstore shelves That those who know what's best for us Must rise and save us from ourselves -- Witch Hunt (Part III of 'Fear') (1980)"

"I set a course just east of Lyra And northwest of Pegasus Flew into the light of Deneb Sailed across the Milky Way On my ship, the 'Rocinante' Wheeling through the galaxies Headed for the heart of Cygnus Headlong into mystery -- Cygnus X-1, Book One; The Voyage (1977)"

"Now there's no more oak oppression For they passed a noble law And the trees are all kept equal By hatchet, axe and saw -- The Trees (1978)"

"I hear the sound of gunfire at the prison gate, Are the liberators here? Do I hope or do I fear? For my father and my brother, it’s too late but I must help my mother stand up straight. Are we the last ones left alive? Are we the only human beings to survive? -- Red Sector A (1984)"

"Anarchist reactionary, running-dog revisionist Hindu, Muslim, Catholic creation, evolutionist Rational, romantic, mystic, cynical, idealist Minimal expressionist, post-modern neo-symbolist Armchair rocket scientist, graffiti existentialist Deconstruction primitive performance photo-realist Be-bop or a one-drop or a hip-hop, lite-pop-metallist Gold adult contemporary, urban country capitalist -- You Bet Your Life (1991)"

"Wheels can take you around. Wheels can cut you down. We can go from boom to bust. From dreams to a bowl of dust. We can fall from rockets' red glare, down to "Brother can you spare..." Another war. Another wasteland. And another lost generation -- Between The Wheels (1984)"

"Imagine a man when it all began The pilot of 'Enola Gay' Flying out of the shockwave on that August day All the powers that be, and the course of history Would be changed forevermore -- Manhattan Project (1985)"

"No hero in your tragedy, No daring in your escape, No salutes for your surrender, Nothing noble in your fate, Christ, what have you done? -- The Pass (1989)"

"Cast in this unlikely role Ill-equipped to act With insufficient tact One must put up barriers To keep oneself intact -- Limelight (1981)"

"The world weighs on my shoulders But what am I to do? You sometimes drive me crazy But I worry about you I know it makes no difference To what you’re going through But I see the tip of the iceberg And I worry about you... -- Distant Early Warning (1984)"

"It takes a little more persistence to get up and go the distance I'm not giving in I'm not missing out I'm not giving up on implausible dreams -- The Enemy Within (Part I of 'Fear') (1984)"

"I feel the sense of possibilities I feel the wrench of hard realities The focus is sharp in the city -- The Camera Eye (1981)"

"Growing up it all seems so one-sided Opinions all provided The future pre-decided Detached and subdivided In the mass production zone Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone -- Subdivisions (1982)"

"Some are born to move the world, to live their fantasies But most of us just dream about the things we'd like to be Sadder still to watch it die, then never to have known it For you, the blind who once could see The bell tolls for thee... -- Losing It (1982)"

"We each pay a fabulous price For our visions of paradise But a spirit with a vision is a dream With a mission -- Mission (1987)"

"Faith is cold as ice. Why are little ones born only to suffer for the want of immunity, or a bowl of rice? Well, who would hold a price on the heads of the innocent children if there's some immortal power to control the dice? -- Roll The Bones (1991)"

"Today is different, and tomorrow the same. It's hard to take the world the way that it came. Too many rapids keep us sweeping along. Too many captains keep on steering us wrong. It's hard to take the heat. It's hard to lay blame. To fight the fire, while we're feeding the flames. -- Second Nature (1987)"

"You move me, you move me. with your buildings and your eyes Autumn woods and Winter skies. You move me, you move me. Open sea and city lights, busy streets and dizzy heights. You call me, you call me. -- The Analog Kid (1982)"

"Features distorted in the flickering light Faces are twisted and grotesque Silent and stern in the sweltering night The mob moves like demons possessed Quiet in conscience, calm in their right Confident their ways are best -- Witch Hunt (Part III of 'Fear') (1981)"

"A scorching blast of golden fire as it slowly leaves the ground Tears away with a mighty force The air is shattered by the awesome sound -- Countdown (1982)"

"I'm not looking back, but I want to look around me now. -- Time Stand Still (1987)"

"The middle aged madonna calls her neighbor on the phone. Day by day, the seasons pass and leave her life alone. But she'll go walking out that door on some bright afternoon to go and paint big cities from a lonely attic room. -- Middletown Dreams (1985)"

"You don't get something for nothing You can't have freedom for free. You won't get wise With the sleep still in your eyes No matter what your dream might be. -- Something for Nothing (1976)"

"Wave after wave Will flow with the tide And bury the world as it does Tide after tide Will flow and recede Leaving life to go on As it was... -- Natural Science (1980)"

"There's no bread, let 'em eat cake There's no end to what they'll take Flaunt the fruits of noble birth Wash the salt into the earth -- Bastille Day (1975)"

"Like a steely blade in a silken sheath We don't see what they're made of They shout about love, but when push comes to shove They live for the things they're afraid of And the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them... - The Weapon (Part II of 'Fear') (1982)"

"...if the music stops and there's only the sound of the rain All the hope and glory -- All the sacrifice in vain (And) If love remains, though everything is lost We will pay the price, but we will not count the cost -- Bravado (1991)"

"Sometimes I freeze...until the light comes Sometimes I fly...into the night Sometimes I fight...against the darkness Sometimes I'm wrong...sometimes I'm right -- Freeze (Part IV of 'Fear') (2002)"

"All the same we take our chances, Laughed at by time, tricked by circumstances, Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, The more that things change, the more they stay the same. -- Circumstances (1978)"

"Miracles will have their claimers More will bow to Rome He and she are in the house But there's only me at home. -- Anagram (For Mongo) (1989)"

"An ounce of perception, a pound of obscure Process information at half speed Pause, rewind, replay Warm memory chip Random sample, hold the one you need -- Vital Signs (1981)"

"How I prayed just to get away To carry me anywhere Sometimes the angels punish us By answering our prayers -- Carnies (2012)"

"Four a.m., having just returned from an evening at the Golden Spheres, which despite the inconveniences of heat, noise and overcrowding was not without its pleasures. Thankfully, there were no dogs and no children. The gowns were middling. There was a good deal of shouting and behavior verging on the profligate, however, people were very free with their compliments and I made several new acquaintances. There was Lindsay Doran of Mirage, wherever that might be, who is largely responsible for my presence here, an enchanting companion about whom too much good cannot be said. Mr. Ang Lee, of foreign extraction, who most unexpectedly appeared to understand me better than I understand myself. Mr. James Shamis, a most copiously erudite person and Miss Kate Winslet, beautiful in both countenance and spirit. Mr. Pat Doyle, a composer and a Scot, who displayed the kind of wild behaviour one has learned to expect from that race. Mr. Mark Kenton, an energetic person with a ready smile who, as I understand it, owes me a great deal of money. [Breaks character, smiles.] TRUE!! [Back in character.] Miss Lisa Henson of Columbia, a lovely girl and Mr. Garrett Wiggin, a lovely boy. I attempted to converse with Mr. Sydney Pollack, but his charms and wisdom are so generally pleasing, that it proved impossible to get within ten feet of him. The room was full of interesting activity until 11 p.m. when it emptied rather suddenly. The lateness of the hour is due, therefore, not to the dance, but to the waiting in a long line for a horseless carriage of unconscionable size. The modern world has clearly done nothing for transport."

"Thank you very much. Good Heavens. Um, I can't thank you enough, Hollywood Foreign Press, for honouring me in this capacity. I don't wish to burden you with my debts, which are heavy and numerous but, um, I think that everybody involved in the making of this film knows that we owe all our pride and all our joy to the genius of Jane Austen. And, um, it occurred to me to wonder how she would react to an evening like this... [Puts down statue on stage, reads paper] This is what I came up with"

"P.S. Managed to avoid the hoyden Emily Thompkinson, who has purloined my creation and added things of her own. Nefarious Creature!"

"Originally, everything I wrote I wanted to perform, to flesh it out, and I didn't have the courage just to let people read and make their own decisions. I had to do that with this. And some of the stuff people really did wonderfully. Pru Scales did a monologue and just transformed it in my eyes — I thought it was rather ordinary and she made it into something really terrific."

"Unfortunately sometimes I have to fly, but I don't fly nearly as much as I did, because of my carbon footprint, and I plant a lot of trees. [Interviewer: Do you fly economy, to... reduce your carbon footprint?] I bloody don't, no!"

"I don't really know how to thank the Academy for this. And if I try we'll be here till Christmas. So I better get on..."

"Before I came, I went to visit Jane Austen's grave in Winchester Cathedral to pay my respects, you know, and tell her about the grosses. [Laughter] I don't know how she would react to an evening like this, but I do hope -- I do hope she knows how big she is in Uruguay."

"Profound thanks to Columbia Pictures and the lovely forms of Lisa Henson, Gary Wiggan, and Mark Canter for hiring a first-time writer; to James Shamus for his rare intelligence; to Sidney Pollack for asking all the right questions, like 'Why couldn't these women go out and get a job?' Why, indeed. To the cast and crew, for being impeccable. To my friend and my teacher, Lindsay Doran, for being the single most frustrating reason why I can't claim all the credit for myself. And finally, I would like with your permission to dedicate this Oscar to our director, Ang Lee. Ang, wherever you are, this is for you. [Beaming smile]"

"It is the general idea put forward by Proudhon in 1840 that unites him with the later anarchists, with Bakunin and Kropotkin, and also with certain earlier and later thinkers, such as Godwin, Stirner, and Tolstoy, who evolved anti-governmental systems without accepting the name of anarchy; and it is in this sense that I shall treat anarchism, despite its many variations: as a system of social thought, aiming at fundamental changes in the structure of society and particularly — for this is the common element uniting all its forms — at the replacement of the authoritarian state by some form of non-governmental cooperation between free individuals."

"Like such titles as Christian and Quaker, "anarchist" was in the end proudly adopted by one of those against whom it had been used in condemnation. In 1840, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, that stormy, argumentative individualist who prided himself on being a man of paradox and a provoker of contradiction, published the work that established him as a pioneer libertarian thinker. It was What Is Property?, in which he gave his own question the celebrated answer: "Property is theft." In the same book he became the first man willingly to claim the title of anarchist. Undoubtedly Proudhon did this partly in defiance, and partly in order to exploit the word's paradoxical qualities. He had recognized the ambiguity of the Greek anarchos, and had gone back to it for that very reason — to emphasize that the criticism of authority on which he was about to embark need not necessarily imply an advocacy of disorder. The passages in which he introduces "anarchist" and "anarchy" are historically important enough to merit quotation, since they not merely show these words being used for the first time in a socially positive sense, but also contain in germ the justification by natural law which anarchists have in general applied to their arguments for a non-authoritarian society."

"Proudhon, like the Communists, fights against egoism. Therefore they are continuations and consistent carryings-out of the Christian principle, the principle of love, of sacrifice for something general, something alien. They complete in property, only what has long been extant as a matter of fact — namely, the propertylessness of the individual. ... In this too Proudhon is like the Christians, that he ascribes to God that which he denies to men. He names him the Proprietaire of the earth. Herewith he proves that he cannot think away the proprietor as such; he comes to a proprietor at last, but removes him to the other world."

"Proudhon goes on to suggest that the real laws by which society functions have nothing to do with authority; they are not imposed from above, but stem from the nature of society itself. He sees the free emergence of such laws as the goal of social endeavour. ... Proudhon conceiving a natural law of balance operating within society, rejects authority as an enemy and not a friend of order, and throws back at the authoritarians the accusations leveled at anarchists; in the process he adopts the title he hopes to have cleared of obloquy."

"We can find the origins of the doctrine of surplus value, that grand "scientific discovery" of which our marxists are so proud, in the writings of Proudhon. It was thanks to him that Marx became acquainted with that theory to which he added modifications through his later study of the English socialists Bray and Thompson."

"In France, Proudhon has the right to be a bad economist because he is reputed to be a good German philosopher. In Germany, he has the right to be a bad philosopher because he is reputed to be one of the ablest of French economists. But being both a German and an economist, I wish to protest against this double error."