A fascinating list of literary inspiration from Tim O’Reilly (the chap largely credited with coining ‘Web 2.0′).
The outpouring was prompted, says O’Reilly, by a recent New York Times piece, Surprises on the bookshlves of CEOs. The article pointed to a trend away from heavyweight business manuals, and toward the classics and more philosophical works.
O’Reilly lists a few of his fave reads (including Air Guitar by Dave Hickey, and Rasselas by Samuel Johnson), but it’s among his favourite quotes that I found the single greatest resonance…
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence. From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back into bondage.”Alexander Tyler, circa 1787, The Fall of the Athenian Republic.
