Freedom for the wolves has often meant death to the sheep.
Isaiah BerlinRead
Liberty and equality, spontaneity and security, happiness and knowledge, mercy and justice - all these are ultimate human values, sought for themselves alone; yet when they are incompatible, they cannot all be attained, choices must be made, sometimes tragic losses accepted in the pursuit of some preferred ultimate end.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the conflict between different ultimate human values and the necessity of making difficult choices.
Isaiah Berlin's quote reflects on the inherent struggle in human existence where we must often choose between competing values such as liberty, equality, and happiness. Each of these values is sought after for its own sake, but when they clash, we face the dilemma of sacrificing one for the sake of another, which can lead to tragic outcomes.
Themes
LibertyEqualityValuesChoicesSacrifice
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about social justice, this quote can illustrate the complexities of balancing liberty and equality.
More from Isaiah Berlin
All quotes →Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance - these may be cured by reform or revolution. But men do not live only by fighting evils. They live by positive goals, individual and collective, a vast variety of them, seldom predictable, at times incompatible.
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All central beliefs on human matters spring from a personal predicament.
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The underlying assumption that human nature is basically the same at all times, everywhere, and obeys eternal laws beyond human control, is a conception that only a handful of bold thinkers have dared to question.
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The case against the notion of historical objectivity is like the case against international law, or international morality; that it does not exist.
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Utopias have their value -- nothing so wonderfully expands the imaginative horizons of human potentialities -- but as guides to conduct they can prove literally fatal.
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