What isn forbidden is compulsory

In October a California newspaper presented an epigram about totalitarianism circulating in Paris, France: In English fantasy author T.

The manuscript included a section in which the magician Merlyn transformed the character Arthur into an ant, and the tiny Arthur saw the saying printed on a sign above a tunnel: The fortress was entered by tunnels, and, over the entrance to each tunnel, there was a notice which said:. He read the notice with a feeling of dislike, though he did not appreciate its meaning, and he thought to himself: I will take a turn round, before going in. For some reason the notice gave him a reluctance to go, making the rough tunnel look sinister.

The publication history of T. John T. Saturday Evening Post, 23 Dec. Quoting a definition of Fascism. In physicist Murray Gell-Mann published a journal article with a footnote containing the saying: We have made liberal and tacit use of this assumption, which is related to the state of affairs that is said to prevail in a perfect totalitarian state. Anything that is not compulsory is forbidden.

In poet W. In conclusion, the earliest match located by QI appeared in a article by Weare Holbrook about the treatment of students at colleges. The phrasing has evolved over time, and the expression has been applied to a variety of real and fictional states. Science 2. In science, the saying goes, if it can happen in nature it will. Nothing new there, what is interesting i n a recent article by by Tom Siegfried in Science News is that Gell-Mann doesn't seem to have been inspired by T.

White did have that statement in the edition of "The Once and Future King" compilation but not in the prior books leading back to Gell-Mann had placed it in a strong nuclear force paper in This entry was posted in Bill of Rights , books , COVID , critical thinking , current events , divisiveness , education , First Amendment , free speech , freedom , history , language , literature , news , novel coronavirus , politics , society , totalitarianism and tagged books , COVID , education , etymology , First Amendment , free speech , history , language , literature , meaning , novel coronavirus , Orwell , politics , social distancing , word , writing.

Bookmark the permalink. October 29, at pm. Boz says:. October 30, at am. Hi, Michelle, Thanks for reading and commenting. For a careful historical discussion, see thepaper by Kragh referenced in the WP article. White didn't publish the phrase in print util I thought Once and Future King was much older than that.

My mistake. HarryJohnston: The story existed in a series of different versions. The phrase didn't appear until the version. The Kragh paper goes into all this. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer.

Mike Scott Mike Scott For anyone else trying to locate it, it's about two pages after the end of the courtroom scene, inserted as an authorial explanation during a dialog between David MacKinnon and Fader Magee.