Quotes About Commons

Hardin, Garrett, Filters Against Folly (New York: Penguin, 1985).

The British general election of 2010 returned only three MPs to the Commons who described their professions as "science or research" (compared with thirty-eight barristers).

The British Empire is a miscellaneous aggregate, and each bit of the aggregate brings its bit of business to the House of Commons.

The danger of the House of Commons is, perhaps, that it will be reformed too rashly; the danger of the House of Lords certainly is, that it may never be reformed.

When Latimer demanded to know by whom and by what authority he was being indicted, Sir Peter de la Mare supplied the historic answer that the Commons as a body would maintain all their charges in common. At one stroke he created the constitutional means for impeachment and removal of ministers.

Wilberforce was greatly renowned for his singing voice and came to be known as the "Nightingale of Commons"—probably not only for the remarkable quality of his voice but for the hours at which he sang.

Part of the answer certainly lies in the fact that using software does not decrease its value. Indeed, widespread use of open-source software tends to increase its value, as users fold in their own fixes and features (code patches). In this inverse commons, the grass grows taller when it's grazed upon.

Dedicated to all who are building the information commons.

The House of Commons, refused to receive the addresses of the colonies, when the matter was pending; besides, we hold our rights neither from them nor from the Lords.

I do think there is a great deal of caricature around the House of Commons. It is just that kind of place.

Kahan concludes that we are all actors in a Tragedy of the Belief Commons: what's rational for every individual to believe (based on esteem) can be irrational for the society as a whole to act upon (based on reality).17

Protecting Americans from harm goes beyond police and national defense. It's imperative that we not destroy the commons, the physical environment on which we rely.

A rich and diverse commons lowers the cost of living for those who use it. And throughout history, it has been those on low incomes who gain most from the commons.

On March 10, 1764, preliminary resolutions passed the House of Commons looking towards the Stamp Act.

Public crowdfunding still suffers from a tragedy of the commons problem. Everyone will want the benefit of the crowdfunded efforts but is incentivized to sit on the sidelines and hope others chip in.

It is the job of government to prevent a tragedy of the commons. That includes the commons of shared values and norms on which democracy depends.

When I was an MP, John Prescott barracked me in the House of Commons, shouting: 'Woolly jumper! Woolly jumper!'

The rise of capitalist practice and morality brought with it a radical revision of how the commons are treated, and also of how they are conceived.

I'm known on the Hill for having respect, I think, on all sides of the House of Commons because I don't buy into treating people poorly.

Watching the Commons tribute to Margaret Thatcher was like being suffocated inside a gigantic sticky toffee pudding, but one with nasty bogeys planted inside. There was much of the 'Margaret Thatcher who was lucky enough to know me,' especially from her own side of the House.

People's sense of reciprocity appears to co-evolve with their economy's structure: a fascinating finding with important implications for those aiming to rebalance the roles of the household, market, commons and state in any society.

First, the digital revolution has given rise to the network era of near zero-marginal-cost collaboration, as we saw in the dynamic rise of the collaborative commons in Chapter 2. It is essentially unleashing a revolution in distributed capital ownership. Anyone with an Internet connection can entertain, inform, learn and teach worldwide.

There are clearly many ways to more equitably share the wealth that lies beneath our feet. Ostrom was quick to point out, however, that there is no panacea for managing land and its resources well: neither the market, the commons nor the state alone can provide an infallible blueprint. Approaches to distributive land design must fit the people and the place, and may well work best when they combine all three of these approaches to provisioning.44

Instead of focusing primarily on redistributing income earned, they will aim to redistribute wealth too—especially the wealth that comes from controlling land, money creation, enterprise, technology and knowledge. And instead of focusing on market and state solutions alone, they will also harness the power of the commons. It's a fundamental shift in perspective, and it is well under way.