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Curtis Yarvin
210 quotes
“Every society in human history that has ever given itself over to government by intellectuals has lived to regret it. Ours will be no different.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Moral sentiments and Material Interests", Gene Expression (October 5, 2006).
“The history of ideas since 1789 is an endless record of mass murder in the name of the people.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The relative peace of the last sixty years has been achieved only at the price of creating a university system which is an established church in all but name, and which suppresses any thought it finds even remotely disturbing.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most powerful people in the West today, measured strictly by their ability to influence the real world, are journalists and professors.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Advertising to Kids" (October 23, 2006).
“When you create a category called "religion" which lumps together all the delusional traditions that people who are not like you have inherited unquestioned from their intellectual ancestors, you are making it harder, not easier, to question your own assumptions.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Religion – definitions", Gene Expression (December 22, 2006).
“Not all Muslims are terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslims. Similarly, not all conservatives are cretins, but most cretins are conservatives." - A Formalist Manifesto, (April 23 2007)”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Moderation is not an ideology." - A Formalist Manifesto, (April 23 2007)”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The main problem in human affairs is violence. The goal [of formalism] is to design a way for humans to interact, on a planet of remarkably limited size, without violence." - A Formalist Manifesto, (April 23 2007)”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Formalists attribute the success of Europe, Japan and the US after World War II not to democracy, but its absence. While retaining the symbolic structures of democracy . . . the postwar Western system has assigned almost all actual decision-making power to its civil servants and judges, who are 'apolitical' and 'nonpartisan,' ie, nondemocratic . . . In other words, 'democracy' appears to work because it is not in fact democracy, but a mediocre implementation of formalism." - A Formalist Manifesto, (April 23 2007)”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Simplicity is the cure for violence. For example, if we postulate an imaginary oracle that could predict the outcome of any battle, we could eliminate war. The predicted loser would have no incentive but to concede to the demands of the predicted winner.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Liquidity As Information", interfluidity (January 18, 2007).
“Hominids crave power, and they rationalize it as responsibility. No one ever achieved power by promising to enslave his followers. It is always about improving the world, at least from the perspective of prospective supporters. And it is almost always sincere. Insincere leaders are very rare, because hominids are very good at detecting insincerity. It is much easier to delude others if at the same time you delude yourself.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Price of Muscle-Flexing", 2Blowhards (January 30, 2007).
“Democracy is to power as a lottery is to money. It is a social mechanism that allows a large number of hominids to feel as if their individual views affect the world, even when the chance of such an effect is negligible.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he ruling caste are the people who say "we" when they mean "the government". The ruled castes always say "they".”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Roberts and Easterbrook", 2Blowhards (April 11, 2007).
“In fact, natural selection tends to favor the ascent of ideologies which not only are ineffective, but actually iatrogenic. In other words, the solution is actually causing the problem it purports to be trying to solve.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In a society where scholars are the ruling caste, actual scholarship tends to disappear.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Universities are no longer institutions of scholarship. They are revolutionary seminaries. Their product is cadre.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The New York Times could print nothing but lies for a year, and it would still be the most powerful institution in the world.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Global Warming -- Or Not -- Online", 2Blowhards (April 13, 2007).
“You think you're charging the matador, but you're charging the cape.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Technical advances have masked, and continue to mask, the signs of decay that would otherwise be obvious.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: England R.I.P.?", 2Blowhards (April 19, 2007).
“The other day I was tinkering around in my garage and I decided to build a new ideology.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Mencius Vision", 2Blowhards (April 22, 2007).
“Replacing your own ideology is a lot like do-it-yourself brain surgery.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In fact, it's basically impossible to combine a system in which agreements stay agreed with one in which equality stays equal.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Democratic politics is best understood as a sort of symbolic violence, like deciding who wins the battle by how many troops they brought.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The essential idea of leftism is that the world should be governed by scholars.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The essential idea of leftism", Unqualified Reservations (April 27, 2007).
“That's always the trouble with history. It always looks like it's over. But it never is.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jaroslav Hašek and the kernel-monitor meme", Unqualified Reservations (April 28, 2007).
“All decent, reasonable men are horrified by the idea that the government might control the press. None of them seem concerned at all that the press might control the government.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journalistic independence", Unqualified Reservations (April 29, 2007).
“[E]very kind of human action has become shrouded in a vast cloud of something called "ethics", which no one can define, but no one is allowed to question. An actual holy book would be a serious improvement.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What if there's no such thing as chaotic good?", Unqualified Reservations (May 1, 2007).
“[T]he hardest part of thinking clearly is recognizing false assumptions that are universally shared.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: He who refuses does not repent", Unqualified Reservations (May 2, 2007)
“There is no institution to which one can go in order to receive a sound paleoconservative education. Most of the people in the idea trade would simply deny that such a thing exists. Safeway will sell you a whole, salted rhinoceros head before Harvard will teach you that Lincoln was a tyrant.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An alien perspective is useful because it is not, at least not obviously, influenced by the ideas that are loose in the world today.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The genius of New Deal "liberal democracy" is that while it's somewhat liberal, it's not at all democratic. It is in fact designed specifically to resist democracy. The combination of this design with a civic creed that assigns unlimited positive connotations to the word democracy is simply brilliant. We may despise it, but we have to admire it.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The genius of the New Deal design", Unqualified Reservations (May 2, 2007).
“I can't imagine counting the number of times I've heard someone say "we should…" when what they really mean is "the government should…".”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Utley rule and the BDH alliance", Unqualified Reservations (May 8, 2007).
“[U]niversal faith in progress is evidence for, not against, decline.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Antisingularity", Unqualified Reservations (May 11, 2007)
“The First Republic was the Congressional regime, which illegally abolished the British colonial governments. The Second Republic was the Constitutional regime, which illegally abolished the Articles of Confederation. The Third Republic was the Unionist regime, which illegally abolished the principle of federalism. The Fourth Republic is the New Deal regime, which illegally abolished the principle of limited government.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The iron polygon: power in the United States", Unqualified Reservations (May 12, 2007).
“A good way to find the most powerful people in the US is to find the most responsible people. No one in the US is scheming for power. A lot of them seem to be working for change. No one in the US is brainwashing the masses. A lot of them seem to be educating the public. No one in the US is ruling the world. A lot of them seem to be making global policies.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In fact, rationalism is to reason as scientism is to science.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Our planet is infested with pseudo-atheists", Unqualified Reservations (May 16, 2007).
“[T]he modern world has largely replaced religion, defined as the veneration of paranormal beings, with idealism, defined as the veneration of mysterious universal principles.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Understanding racial idealism", Unqualified Reservations (May 20, 2007).
“Limited government is a recipe for corrupting the judiciary.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Limited government as antipropertarian idealism", Unqualified Reservations (May 23, 2007).
“Since the ideal of limited government—that is, the idea that sovereignty cannot be the rightful property of anyone, individual, family, or corporation—has become general, we have seen an extraordinary level of violence, which appears to be connected to the question of who should control and receive the revenues of sovereignty.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[R]evenue-maximizing government is not a medieval atrocity from the past, but a permanent feature of human history whose rare exceptions are unstable and undesirable.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In fact, the word racism is applied in almost exactly the same way, by almost exactly the same authorities, as atheism in 1811. It is an omnibus epithet for a tremendous variety of ideas and opinions which responsible authorities find dangerous or displeasing.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The unlikely appeal of nonidealism", Unqualified Reservations (May 23, 2007).
“[T]he state is simply a real-estate business on a very large scale.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Good government as good customer service", Unqualified Reservations (May 25, 2007).
“[T]axation is not theft. Taxation is rent.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is a commonly held misconception that elected politicians hold any significant power in the current Western system of government. At best they represent figureheads around which power coalesces, and you can follow the power by following the name, as if it were a small and dusty bobber attached to a large and energetic fish.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Democrats: party of lies", Unqualified Reservations (May 29, 2007).
“In the twenty-first century, any writer whose work appears anywhere but his own blog is a shill. Or at least, he should be assumed to be compromised unless proven otherwise. The Internet has all the tools you need to write and be read without being beholden to anyone. If anyone rejects this independence, you have to wonder why.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The problem today is that the people who think they are the most daring are in fact the most obsequious.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Democrats: party of lies" (May 31, 2007).
“The artists of today produce kitsch because they're rebelling against a fictitious power structure by supporting a real one.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For obvious reasons of human psychology, journalists […] are likely to favor political systems in which they themselves are more important and powerful.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hillary fires back", Unqualified Reservations (June 1, 2007).
“Most people in the West don't think their entire system of government is fundamentally, irreparably corrupt. Nor did most people in the Soviet Union.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The generalist's stone: a stable mind", Unqualified Reservations (June 2, 2007).
“[T]he replacement of religion by idealism has allowed people who are essentially religious fanatics to achieve positions of unprecedented temporal supremacy, not only without arousing the alarm of reasonable, scientifically minded writers, but in fact enlisting their enthusiastic support.”
Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Principles and platitudes", Unqualified Reservations (June 4, 2007).