--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Once you buy the argument that some…" description: "\"Once you buy the argument that some segment of the citizenry should lose their rights, just because they are envied or resented, you are putting your o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/193/thomas-sowell-247_arbitrary_once-you-buy-the-argument-that-some-segm_2262728.jpg" --- # Once you buy the argument that some segment of the… ![“Once you buy the argument that some segment of the citizenry should lose their rights, just because they are envied or resented, you are putting your own rights in jeopardy - quite aside from undermining any moral basis for respecting anybody's rights. You are opening the floodgates to arbitrary…” quote by Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/193/thomas-sowell-247_arbitrary_once-you-buy-the-argument-that-some-segm_2262728.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/193/thomas-sowell-247_arbitrary_once-you-buy-the-argument-that-some-segm_2262728.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/193/thomas-sowell-247_arbitrary_once-you-buy-the-argument-that-some-segm_2262728.jpg) > “Once you buy the argument that some segment of the citizenry should lose their rights, just because they are envied or resented, you are putting your own rights in jeopardy - quite aside from undermining any moral basis for respecting anybody's rights. You are opening the floodgates to arbitrary power. And once you open the floodgates, you can't tell the water where to go.” [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Advocating denial of rights to a group threatens everyone’s freedoms and invites unchecked authority. **In simple terms:** Taking rights away from one endangers all. Key Takeaway Protect universal rights. Themes justice freedom power ethics Mood concerned serious Type political ethical When to use this quote - legislation - public policy - community relations - human rights advocacy Key Concepts social contract arbitrary authority rights erosion Questions to Reflect On - What groups are most vulnerable to rights erosion? - How can societies safeguard against arbitrary power? A Different Perspective If rights are limited for some, it may legitimize broader oppression. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anybody Rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anybody-rights-5212920/) [Arbitrary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arbitrary/) [Argument](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argument/) [Bases](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bases/) [Citizenry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/citizenry/) [Citizenry Lose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/citizenry-lose-5212918/) [Envied](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/envied/) [Jeopardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jeopardy/) [Lose Rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lose-rights-355968/) [Loses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loses/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Opening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opening/) [Rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rights/) [Rights Jeopardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rights-jeopardy-5212919/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Undermining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/undermining/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) ## Related quotes > [Even though your responsibilities increase when you become a manager, you lose some of the rights or freedoms you may have enjoyed in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cottrell/even-though-your-responsibilities-increase-when-you-become-a-manager/) [David Cottrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cottrell/) > [We're most likely to lose our rights when we allow ourselves to be persuaded to deprive others of theirs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/we-re-most-likely-to-lose-our-rights-when-we-allow-ourselves-to-be/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [In England it is enough for a man to try and produce any serious, beautiful work to lose all his rights as a citizen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/in-england-it-is-enough-for-a-man-to-try-and-produce-any-serious/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Women become the objects of rules; they are repressed and lose their rights in the name of religion, or they lose their freedom in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/okky-madasari/women-become-the-objects-of-rules-they-are-repressed-and-lose-their/) [Okky Madasari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/okky-madasari/) > [I can't stand by, the Liberal Democrats will not stand by, to see disabled people lose their rights, lose the care they need, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-davey/i-can-t-stand-by-the-liberal-democrats-will-not-stand-by-to-see/) [Ed Davey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-davey/) > [It isn't that some gay will get some rights. It's that everyone else in our state will lose rights. For instance, parents will lose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michele-bachmann/it-isn-t-that-some-gay-will-get-some-rights-it-s-that-everyone-else/) [Michele Bachmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michele-bachmann/) > [Envy assails the noblest: the winds howl around the highest peaks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/envy-assails-the-noblest-the-winds-howl-around-the-highest-peaks/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [Since biblical times, and probably before, the wealthy have been envied and condemned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-black/since-biblical-times-and-probably-before-the-wealthy-have-been-envied/) [Conrad Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-black/) > [The pastoral labours of the archbishop of Constantinople provoked and gradually united against him two sorts of enemies; the aspiring clergy, who envied his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/the-pastoral-labours-of-the-archbishop-of-constantinople-provoked-and/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [He will be loved when dead, who was envied when he was living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/he-will-be-loved-when-dead-who-was-envied-when-he-was-living/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Each of them berated you, because they feared and envied you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/each-of-them-berated-you-because-they-feared-and-envied-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There was a rivalry - and some pie-throwing. But that was probably because Gawker and Radar had more in common than they wanted to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-denton/there-was-a-rivalry-and-some-pie-throwing-but-that-was-probably/) [Nick Denton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-denton/) > [If our inward griefs were written on our brows, how many who are envied now would be pitied. It would seem that they had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pietro-metastasio/if-our-inward-griefs-were-written-on-our-brows-how-many-who-are/) [Pietro Metastasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pietro-metastasio/) > [Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/whatever-withdraws-us-from-the-power-of-our-senses-whatever-makes-the/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [There is no sweeter sound than the crumbling of one's fellow man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/there-is-no-sweeter-sound-than-the-crumbling-of-one-s-fellow-man/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) ## More by Thomas Sowell > [The vision of the left, full of envy and resentment, takes its worst toll on those at the bottom - whether black or white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/the-vision-of-the-left-full-of-envy-and-resentment-takes-its-worst/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [There is no bigger waste of time than doing 90% of what is necessary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/there-is-no-bigger-waste-of-time-than-doing-90-of-what-is-necessary/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/if-you-have-always-believed-that-everyone-should-play-by-the-same/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [“In 1962, Democratic President John F. Kennedy, like both Democratic and Republican Presidents and Secretaries of the Treasury in earlier years, pointed out that “it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/in-1962-democratic-president-john-f-kennedy-like-both-democratic-and/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [Ideological bigotry has become the norm on even our most prestigious campuses, where students can go for years without reading or hearing anything that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/ideological-bigotry-has-become-the-norm-on-even-our-most-prestigious/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [Bailing out people who made ill-advised mortgages makes no more sense that bailing out people who lost their life savings in Las Vegas casinos.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/bailing-out-people-who-made-ill-advised-mortgages-makes-no-more-sense/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [“One third of all Scots in the mid-nineteenth century moved from one county to another”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/one-third-of-all-scots-in-the-mid-nineteenth-century-moved-from-one/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [The difference is that we have the hardest and most painful evidence that there was a Holocaust. 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Once you relieve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-eisenberg/i-don-t-concern-myself-with-thinking-ahead-to-the-finished-product-i/) [Jesse Eisenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-eisenberg/) > [Habit is altogether too arbitrary a master for me to submit to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-kaspar-lavater/habit-is-altogether-too-arbitrary-a-master-for-me-to-submit-to/) [Johann Kaspar Lavater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-kaspar-lavater/) > [I look back, now, and I know that the naming moment, which seemed so insignificant then, which seemed to demand no more than an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-david-roberts/i-look-back-now-and-i-know-that-the-naming-moment-which-seemed-so/) [Gregory David Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-david-roberts/) > [Police in China can do whatever they want; after 81 days in arbitrary detention you clearly realise that they don't have to obey their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/police-in-china-can-do-whatever-they-want-after-81-days-in-arbitrary/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [Contrary to what certain governments say, human rights are universal. 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