Quote by Étienne de La Boétie on Freedom and Submission

„It is incredible how as soon as a people become subject, it promptly falls into such complete forgetfulness of its freedom that it can hardly be roused to the point of regaining it, obeying so easily and willingly that one is led to say that this people has not so much lost its liberty as won its enslavement.“

Étienne de La BoétieÉtienne de La Boétie describes how a subjected people forget their freedom and accept their oppression.
PreviousNext

Étienne de La Boétie was a French Renaissance philosopher and jurist, known for his criticism of tyranny and early theory of civil disobedience.

This quote by Étienne de La Boétie addresses the psychological submission of a people and the forgetting of liberty despite oppression.


Translation or original: 🇩🇪Click here

Quelle: Hier klicken

i

3.0 / 5

Quote image featuring Étienne de La Boétie on freedom and submission

Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1563) was a prominent French Renaissance philosopher, jurist, and statesman. He is best known for his work "Discourse on Voluntary Servitude," which examines the power of tyranny through voluntary submission. La Boétie's ideas are considered an early foundation for the concept of civil disobedience.

Quote about submission and the power of custom by Étienne de La BoétieCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
/
0 Comments
"Although people initially submit under coercion and force, those who come after them obey without regret and willingly do what their predecessors did because they had to. That is why men who are born under the yoke and then raised and brought up in slavery are content to live in their original circumstances without further effort, unaware of any other state or right, and considering the state into which they were born to be entirely natural. ... the powerful influence of custom is in no way more compelling than in this, namely, the habituation to submission." Étienne de La Boétie
Read more
Quote by David Hume on the ease of governing many by few and submission to rulersCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
/
0 Comments
"Nothing appears more surprizing to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers." David Hume
Read more
Étienne de La Boétie quote image about liberty, freedom, and tyrannyCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
/
0 Comments
"Liberty is the natural condition of the people. Servitude, however, is fostered when people are raised in subjection. People are trained to adore rulers. While freedom is forgotten by many there are always some who will never submit." Étienne de La Boétie
Read more
Quote about a new form of oppression in democratic nations by Alexis de TocquevilleCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
/
0 Comments
"I think then that the species of oppression by which democratic nations are menaced is unlike anything which ever before existed in the world: our contemporaries will find no prototype of it in their memories. I am trying myself to choose an expression which will accurately convey the whole of the idea I have formed of it, but in vain; the old words “despotism” and “tyranny” are inappropriate: the thing itself is new; and since I cannot name it, I must attempt to define it." Alexis de Tocqueville
Read more
Albert Jay Nock quote about freedom, collectivism, and human dispositionCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
/
0 Comments
"Considering mankind's indifference to freedom, their easy gullibility and their facile response to conditioning, one might very plausibly argue that collectivism is the political mode best suited to their disposition and their capacities. Under its regime, the citizen, like the soldier, is relieved of the burden of initiative and is divested of all responsibility, save for doing as he is told." Albert Jay Nock
Read more
0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Paul Valéry Quote on the Dangerous Effects of HistoryPaul Valéry quote about the dangerous effects of historyCopyright © yoice.net – Quote ArtworkInspirational Leo Tolstoi quote about changing the world and changing yourselfCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork“Everyone thinks of changing the world” – Leo Tolstoi