quote · Words worth keeping
While people will submit to suffering which may hit anyone, they will not so easily submit to suffering which is the result of the decision of authority. It may be bad to be just a cog in an impersonal machine; but it is infinitely worse if we can no longer leave it, if we are tied to our place and to the superiors who have been chosen for us. Dissatisfaction of everybody with his lot will inevitably grow with the consciousness that it is the result of deliberate human decision.
While people will submit to suffering which may hit anyone, they will not so easily submit to suffering which is the result of the decision of authority. It may be bad to be just a cog in an impersonal machine; but it is infinitely worse if we can no longer leave it, if we are tied to our place and to the superiors who have been chosen for us. Dissatisfaction of everybody with his lot will inevitably grow with the consciousness that it is the result of deliberate human decision.
Approximate author period: c. 1945 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Friedrich A. Hayek
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1945 AD · modern
Approximate author-period evidence for Friedrich Hayek: life dates 1899 to 1992. Wikidata Q1325, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1325 (accessed 2026-10-08).
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 385988; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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