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Two “decalogues” on the practical meaning of liberalism

A famous Decalogue by Bertrand Russell (1872-1970):
“Perhaps the essence of the Liberal outlook could be summed up in a new Decalogue, not intended to replace the old one but only to supplement it. The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows:

  1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
  2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
  3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
  4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
  5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
  6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
  7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
  8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent that in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
  9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
  10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.”
“A Liberal Decalogue” is from The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, Vol. 3: 1944-1969, pp. 71-2.

Another Decalogue is from India and pertains more to economic principles:

  1. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
  2. Free people are not equal (in terms of economic income), and equal people are not free.
  3. What’s yours, you take care of; what belongs to everyone or no one falls into disrepair.
  4. Sound economics consists of looking at the long-run effects of an act or policy on all groups, not simply the short-run effects on a few.
  5. If you encourage something, you get more of it; if you discourage something, you get less of it.
  6. Nobody spends someone else’s money as carefully as he spends his own.
  7. The government has nothing to give anybody except what it takes from somebody.
  8. A government that’s big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you’ve got.
  9. Some people are dissatisfied with free enterprise if it doesn’t work perfectly and satisfied with government if it works at all
  10. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
Source: Centre for Civil Society, New Delhi, reading material for the Liberty and Society Seminar, p. 110.