To say 'I love you' one must first be able to say the 'I.'
Ayn RandRead
Every movement that seeks to enslave a country, every dictatorship or potential dictatorship, needs some minority group as a scapegoat which it can blame for the nation's troubles and use as a justification of its own demands for dictatorial powers. In Soviet Russia, the scapegoat was the bourgeoisie; in Nazi Germany, it was the Jewish people; in America, it is the businessmen.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Powerful regimes often use minority groups as scapegoats to justify their authoritarian actions.
In this quote, Ayn Rand highlights the dangerous tendency of totalitarian regimes to create and exploit scapegoats from minority groups to legitimize their oppressive actions. By illustrating historical examples, she warns of the ease with which a society can be misled into blaming certain groups for its problems, thus paving the way for dictatorship and the erosion of freedom.
Themes
TotalitarianismScapegoatDictatorshipMinorityOppressionFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
During a political rally, someone might quote this to discuss the importance of protecting minority rights.
More from Ayn Rand
All quotes →The difference between animals and humans is that animals change themselves for the environment, but humans change the environment for themselves.
Ayn RandRead
It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgement of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect.
Ayn RandRead
What is the basic, the essential, the crucial principle that differentiates freedom from slavery? It is the principle of voluntary action versus physical coercion or compulsion.
Ayn RandRead
One method of destroying a concept is by diluting its meaning. Observe that by ascribing rights to the unborn, i.e., the nonliving, the anti-abortionists obliterate the rights of the living.
Ayn RandRead
I think that when in doubt about the truth of an issue, it's safer and in better taste to select the least numerous of the adversaries.
Ayn RandRead
Similar quotes
I would not be you for a kingdom.' The remark was too naïve to rouse anger; I merely said - 'Very good.' 'And what would you give to be ME?' she inquired. 'Not a bad sixpence - strange as it may sound', I replied. 'You are but a poor creature.' 'You don't think so in your heart.' 'No; for in my heart you have not the outline of a place: I only occasionally turn you over in my brain.
Charlotte BronteRead
Civilisation is partly about restraining the male of the species from engaging in the violence of the hunter-gatherer period. But it doesn't take an awful lot to unleash it.
Niall FergusonRead
We are always the same age inside.
Gertrude SteinRead
I think that our comfort is in our history.
Walter CronkiteRead
I'm interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that appears to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road toward freedom.
Jim MorrisonRead
Let us live in as small a circle as we will, we are either debtors or creditors before we have had time to look around.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead