Matt Ridley Quotes

“American presidential politics is entirely based on the myth that a perfect, omniscient, virtuous and incorruptible saviour will emerge from the New Hampshire primary every four years, and proceed to lead his people to the promised land.”

“Fascism and communism were and are religions of the state.”

“Life adapted to the laws of physics, not vice versa.”

“Most of the so-called robber barons got rich by cutting the price of goods, not raising them.”

“The market is a system of mass cooperation.”

“The police have come to resemble an occupying army who see the citizenry as the enemy.”

“The real tragedy of nationalised education is how little innovation it has seen.”

“There was never a better illustration of the validity of the Enlightenment dream – that order can emerge where nobody is in charge. The genome, now sequenced, stands as emphatic evidence that there can be order and complexity without any management.”

“Though politicians are regarded as scum, government as a machine is held to be almost infallible.”

“Throughout history, the characteristic feature of the nation state is its monopoly of violence.”