You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismayed. Be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep….

William Shakespeare: The Tempest, Act IV, Scene I

Should government refrain from regulation, the worthlessness of the [Fiat] money becomes apparent and the fraud can no longer be concealed.

John Maynard Keynes, “The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920.”

It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.

Henry Ford

A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.

Bertrand de Jouvenal

Swords are to votes as gold is to money: without the metal behind it the paper is worthless.

Glaucon