Jean Bodin (1576)
"Our people are like children, who would never of their own accord decide to learn, who would never take up the alphabet without being compelled to do so by their teacher, who would at first feel despondent. But later, when they have finished their studies, they are grateful for having been made to go through them. This is evident today: has not everything been achieved under constraint? Yet now one hears gratitude for much that has already borne fruit."
Peter the Great (1723)
"A survey of all states in the world will show that those states which undertook reforms became strong while those states which clung to the past perished. The consequences of clinging to the past & the effects of opening up new ways are thus obvious. If Your Majesty, with your discerning brilliance, observes the trends in other countries, you will see that we can change, we can preserve ourselves, but if we cannot change, we shall perish."
K'ang Yu-wei, Confucian reformer
(Memorial to the imperial throne, submitted 29 January 1898)
"No people ever die, nor stop short upon their path, before they have achieved the ultimate aim of their existence."
Unknown
"We estimate that if the seven billion people of the year 2000 have a GNP per capita as high as that of present-day Americans, the total pollution load on the environment would be at least ten times its present value. Can the Earth's natural systems support an intrusion of that magnitude? We have no idea."
Club of Rome (The Limits to Growth 1972)
