NationStates

Sasutary Island wrote:"The Fuc..."

King Alexander IV before a library bookshelf fell on top of him. The culprit is yet to be found. Though it probably had something to do with him leaning on it.

"It's mine to do with what I wish!" -Pauline Marois

"Let their be a new Union of peace and harmony among our peoples!"
~Former President Alexander Trauss celebrating the Hakii Unification of 1999.

"Nobody has the right to redistribute my wealth but me. I can allow for the idea of limited taxes for essential purposes, but my wealth is mine, earned by the talents God gave me."

-- Nathan Carnes, Chairman and CEO of Carnes Petrochemical.

"I don't like the thought that people seem to think black storm clouds herald my coming, I don't like the thought of my power being associated with blackness, because quite frankly, it is purple. Which as a colour, I quite enjoy." - Cornelius Maximilian, frowning.

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"It is here and now, that I do pass on, that I come to an end, that I die. I am depressed by this passing not because I am dying, but because I have not yet experienced all of the wonders of the greatness of God's creation, that I have not seen all of the sights, that I have not taken part in all of the customs, rituals and mannerisms of man and of others. That I have not discovered all of the lost places, or seen all of the ruins of those who came before. That is a thought that darkens my ever exploring mind, even now as it fades away into memory." - Last Journal Entry of Sir (knighted posthumously) Christopher Santiago, dated May 21st, 1504, regarded as the greatest Alisonian explorer to have ever lived and one of the greatest explorers of the world he rediscovered the continent of Irkhalla, was the first man to operate a functional airship after the fall of the Ancient Empire, was the first Sotian to beholden the Adriannic Ocean and is regarded as the herald of the Age of Exploration. He was deified as the Patron (Lesser) God of Explorers in 1509 in Luciellanism.

"In a laissez-faire capitalist society, Bilbo Baggins is a criminal for redistributing Smaug's wealth. Even though it wasn't doing any good in his hoard, and quite frankly he was a bit of an ass, he earned all that, god damn it!"
- Jacques Stuart

"Human beings are all equal. That is true. But supreme magical beings are above them by nature, and the more power they have, the higher they are; that is why me and my sister can rule with an iron fist and decide the fate of our human population as we desire, because we are the most powerful beings in our country."

---Erika von Hartmann

"How much more of this can you contain? We're seeing the Revolution of YouTube. If my pre-Orderian history is accurate, I know exactly what this ends up in. We're sitting on an oxygen tank over an open fire." -Commandant Brandon Okame, leader of the Federal Guard, speaking with Guard Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Wallace, then the director of the Federal Guard Counter-Terrorist Division, in the events leading to the outbreak of the Magna Polis Uprising

"Your policies are redistributing wealth. They are redistributing it from the bottom to the top, pooling a larger and larger share amongst a smaller and smaller group and sending more and more people into inescapable destitution as each day goes by.
The only difference is that you have managed to convince yourself that your tax system is 'natural' and ours 'unnatural.'
There's nothing 'natural' about low or flat taxes, what is 'natural' is no taxes... And no order, and no cooking or houses or medicine.
In order to have civilization, you must have taxes. So where is the least 'unnatural' way for these taxes to fall? Make everyone pay the same percentage? Sounds right... But is it?
A peasant misses 20% of zer bowl of rice much more than a banqueting king misses 20% of zer roast-hog... To force the poorest to pay even close to the same rate of taxation as the richest is to put a far larger burden on the poor than the rich, so that's not fair or 'natural,' as it will make them proportionately poorer still, and less able to escape poverty.

I believe it was Engels who said that mankind's natural habitat doesn't exist yet.
I would certainly say that mankind's natural habitat is, by definition inescapably artificial."

-Multifarian finance minister Nye Bumblebee chatting to Singaporean finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam

"Those who control most of the wealth must pay most of the taxes. If in my role as the First Secretary I happen to acquire a large amount of wealth - which are not my intentions anyway, because salary has nothing to do with how well one can run a country - then I will happily accept as high a tax burden as I can, for the good of my workers. Neither a minority of individuals nor the state should own the majority of wealth."

---Angelika Kautz

"A free man is not forced to buy anything."

-Hanën Pelyas, member of parliament.

"There is no such thing as a free man. One way or another, you will be at the mercy of those above you and there will always be people above you. In the kingdom of Acase, you are at the mercy of the Kings and their knights. In the 'Peasant Coalition' of Acase, you are at the mercy of the faceless government and those who have learned to manipulate it. In the Viditini Alliance, you are at the mercy of the wealthy families and their mad scientists. In the Isle of Flame, you are at the mercy of the Forge-Priestesses and their cursed faith. The same thing applies to the Empire of the North except the Emperor and his 'Imperial Bards' replace the priestesses. In Oroloo... Well, you've probably seen who is master and slave here already. Basically, oppression is a fact of life. If you are free, that means you're either one of the few masters that have none above them or you're dead."

- Lord Folke Valinbard of House Ebon-Bow.

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"I saved this land, saved it with a thousand Heroes at my back against a never-ending tide of horrors. I was named King and led this land to glory with three hundred living legends by my side. Now here I sit, a useless old King surrounded by the cruel and despicable heirs of the original three hundred in a kingdom drowning in corruption. I ask the, oh mighty Triad, how did this fate befall me and my land? Where- I know this sounds trite, but -where did I go wrong? How did I manage to save this land from one thing, but end up damning it from another? I am no stranger to failure, this isn't the first battle I have lost, but this is the first defeat that I have no idea how to recover from... I... Help me, please. Just one more time. Help me find a way to save this land just one more time and this will be the last time I ever ask you for anything again. I promise. All my friends are- this land is all I have- ... You're not listening, are you?"

- William Black, the Heroic King. In desperate prayer.

"Of course, ladies and gentlemen, the way to solve this country's economic probl- Is that an Avia CS-92?! Wow, can I fly it?"

---Angelika Kautz while speaking to a group of government ministers at a military airfield

"Actually, nobles pay tribute because their power is dependent on the Sovereigns. Outside of that, we have flat rates for income tax."
-Minister-President Felix Weymann.

"I can't comprehend why somebody would choose a limited, bare-bones subsistence provided by the state as opposed to going out, struggling and becoming wealthy."

-- Julissa Hickman, Citizen.

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"Smaug stole his wealth. He was a criminal and a thug, just like those politicians who use the "public good" as an excuse to loot the most effective makers to buy votes from the useless mouths."

-- Reagan Schaeffer, Founder & CEO of New Haven Motors, on being compared to a fictional dragon.

"Capitalism? Rewarding the hard working? Don't make me laugh. Men in poverty and receiving welfare payments work harder than any big-shot CEO or banking mogul ever would. If you want real social mobility, try free and easily accessible education. Education is the key. Not 'happily ever after' stories."

-Carl Harrig

"I can't comprehend why somebody would choose a limited, bare-bones subsistence provided by the state as opposed to going out, struggling and becoming wealthy."

-Toots Macintosh, Citizen, dismissing the idea that a 'dependence culture' could develop

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"And so it was, that the inn keeper did lobby the local governance 'til they did relent and freed him from restrictive minimum wage legislation and workplace safety laws.
But alas, although he was now paying his staff far less than they needed to survive, he still found his tax burden was too large. (and without questioning just how good this guy was at running a business if he couldn't afford to A. pay his employees or B. pay taxes) The governors did agree to his demands once more and granted him much exemption from taxes, placing the burden instead on the town's peasants and beggars, and the innkeeper did rejoice.
For when was the last time any of those losers created jobs?"

-Extracts from the Parable of The Trickle-Down Economist, a long-lost scroll of the bible, that was found beneath a KFC parking lot in Multifarity, and which many believe to be a forgery

"Well, actually, the night is not darkest before the dawn. It gets progressively less and less dark and more and more bright until the sun is visible over the horizon. This notion that things can immediately switch from terrible to great is foolhardy. Change is usually a slow and gradual thing. Revolutions are one of the few exceptions, but these are the result if exceptional circumstances. And even then, there can still be a great struggle to ensure the changes of a revolution are left permanent and have a lasting positive effect. In short, do not expect for the dramatic when it comes to change, otherwise you'll be in for a tragedy."

- Nestor Debbs, Leader of the Second Gorgashian Revolution.

"Science, bitches; it WORKS."

-President Isaac Maxis, before pressing the big red button and activating an orbital cannon which then annihilated a nation solely populated by vegetarians, the lowest ring of life themselves.

"There are many in the world who profit from keeping hard working people in poverty. The landlords, the casino bosses, the loan sharks for example... But mainly those born rich, who'd rather steal folk's bootstraps than risk having to compete on a level playing field with those strong enough to pull themselves up by them."

-Multifarian Media Minister: The Great Long-Conk (famed for zer humorous luminous nose)

"By the time the Army gets involved, it's generally too late to just lay down arms and be processed as malcontent criminals. You're now enemy combatants, illegal ones at that, in open arms against the Orderian State." -Sergeant Chris Machinist, Magna Polis Metropolitan Civil Control

"Apologize? What should I apologize for? The billions of dollars in yearly revenues which enrich the economy? The tens of thousands whom I keep in gainful employment? Perhaps the superb cars built by my company and sold at decent prices? Tell me how I have actually wronged anybody and I will at once apologize and make restitution, but I see nothing harmful."

-- Reagan Schaeffer, Founder & CEO of New Haven Motors, to a very irate activist.

"It appears as if I'll finally see the end of this war... I only pray you could all do the same but while living..."
-Sgt. Nikita Reznov, his last words, 1943

"Capitalism rewards the intelligent and the industrious. Which is why Nikola Tesla died broke and Paris Hilton is swimming in cash."
- RCWP General Secretary Alexandre Thibault

Ruridova wrote:"Capitalism rewards the intelligent and the industrious. Which is why Nikola Tesla died broke and Paris Hilton is swimming in cash."
- RCWP General Secretary Alexandre Thibault

Nikola Tesla was also 'married' to a pigeon and went into a chronic debilitating depression when it died. It's not hard to see that genius or not, the man had problems that had absolutely nothing to do with capitalism. Hilton is rich because daddy was successful, not the first of that kind, in fact not anywhere near the first, the first were called kings.

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"Gods forbid some silly little socialist actually go to school and study economics. They might actually abandon socialism then and it's deluded pipe dream." - Baroness Olga Wyrick