August 25, 2025

He that is minded to obey all the commonwealth’s orders, whether through fear of its power or through love of quiet, certainly consults after his own heart his own safety and interest.

Benedict Spinoza (1632–1677), Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Sephardi origin, Political Treatise, III, 3

Fear of government’s power. Love of quiet. Which is the greater motivator of an orderly existence?

Know this: everyone acts in self-interest. In this instance, the less-than-law-abiding to avoid jail, the quietists because they don’t want the bother of exertion.