Walter E. Williams Quotes About Liberty

Quotes about: Liberty

• The Founders knew that a democracy would lead to some kind of tyranny. The term democracy appears in none of our Founding documents. Their vision for us was a Republic and limited government.

  Walter E. Williams

  Government, Vision, Democracy

• In a free society, government has the responsibility of protecting us from others, but not from ourselves.

  Walter E. Williams

  Responsibility, Government, Liberty

• But let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you - and why?

  Walter E. Williams

  Freedom, Justice, Society

  "All it takes is guts". Book by Walter E. Williams, 1987.

• No matter how worthy the cause, it is robbery, theft, and injustice to confiscate the property of one person and give it to another to whom it does not belong.

  Walter E. Williams

  Giving, Religion, Liberty

• Democracy and liberty are not the same. Democracy is little more than mob rule, while liberty refers to the sovereignty of the individual.

  Walter E. Williams

  Democracy, Liberty, Mob Rule

• Three-fifths to two-thirds of the federal budget consists of taking property from one American and giving it to another. Were a private person to do the same thing, we'd call it theft. When government does it, we euphemistically call it income redistribution, but that's exactly what thieves do - redistribute income. Income redistribution not only betrays the founders' vision, it's a sin in the eyes of God.

  Walter E. Williams

  Eye, Two, Government

  "Bogus Right" by Walter E. Williams, econfaculty.gmu.edu. February 8, 2006.

• If one person has a right to something he did not earn, of necessity it requires that another person not have a right to something that he did earn.

  Walter E. Williams

  Liberty, Economics, Persons

  Walter E. Williams (2015). “American Contempt for Liberty”, p.284, Hoover Institution Press

• Communism and socialism is [sic] seductive. It promises us that people will contribute according to ability and receive according to needs. Everybody is equal. Everybody has a right to decent housing, decent food and affordable medical care. History should have taught us that when we hear people talk this stuff - watch out!

  Walter E. Williams

  Equality, Should Have, Taught Us

• Powerful government tends to draw into it people with bloated egos, people who think they know more than everyone else and have little hesitance in coercing their fellow man. Or as Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek said, "in government, the scum rises to the top".

  Walter E. Williams

  Powerful, Men, Thinking

• There are many farm handouts; but let's call them what they really are: a form of legalized theft. Essentially, a congressman tells his farm constituency, "Vote for me. I'll use my office to take another American's money and give it to you."

  Walter E. Williams

  Office, Giving, Liberty

• Try this thought experiment. Pretend you're a tyrant. Among your many liberty-destroying objectives are extermination of blacks, Jews and Catholics. Which would you prefer, a United States with political power centralized in Washington, powerful government agencies with detailed information on Americans and compliant states or power widely dispersed over 50 states, thousands of local jurisdictions and a limited federal government?

  Walter E. Williams

  Powerful, Agency, Government

• Increases in money supply are what constitute inflation, and a general rise in prices is the symptom.

  Walter E. Williams

  Liberty, Economic, Increase

• However, if we wish to be compassionate with our fellow man, we must learn to engage in dispassionate analysis. In other words, thinking with our hearts, rather than our brains, is a surefire method to hurt those whom we wish to help.

  Walter E. Williams

  Hurt, Heart, Men

  Walter E. Williams (2013). “Liberty Versus the Tyranny of Socialism: Controversial Essays”, p.257, Hoover Press

• A caged canary is safe but not free.

  Walter E. Williams

  Liberty, Safe, Libertarian

• Government is about coercion. Limiting government is the single most important instrument for guaranteeing liberty. We're working on a third generation which has little in the way of education about what our Constitution means and why it was written. Thus, we've fallen easy prey to charlatens, quacks, and hustlers.

  Walter E. Williams

  Mean, Government, Important

• Wealth comes from successful individual efforts to please one's fellow man ... that's what competition is all about: "outpleasing" your competitors to win over the consumers.

  Walter E. Williams

  Successful, Winning, Men

• Liberals believe government should take people's earnings to give to poor people. Conservatives disagree. They think government should confiscate people's earnings and give them to farmers and insolvent banks. The compelling issue to both conservatives and liberals is not whether it is legitimate for government to confiscate one's property to give to another, the debate is over the disposition of the pillage.

  Walter E. Williams

  Believe, Thinking, Government

• Conservatives and liberals are kindred spirits as far as government spending is concerned. First, let's make sure we understand what government spending is. Since government has no resources of its own, and since there's no Tooth Fairy handing Congress the funds for the programs it enacts, we are forced to recognize that government spending is no less than the confiscation of one person's property to give it to another to whom it does not belong - in effect, legalized theft.

  Walter E. Williams

  Government, Giving, Liberty

  "All it takes is guts". Book by Walter E. Williams, 1987.

• In keeping Americans ill-educated, ill-informed and constitutionally ignorant, the education establishment has been the politician's major and most faithful partner. It is in this sense that American education can be deemed a success.

  Walter E. Williams

  Faithful, Ignorant, Liberty

• The true test of one's commitment to liberty and private property rights doesn't come when we permit people to be free to do those voluntary things with which we agree. The true test comes when we permit people to be free to do those voluntary things with which we disagree.

  Walter E. Williams

  Commitment, Rights, People

  Walter E. Williams (2013). “More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well”, p.203, Hoover Press

• What we call the market is really a democratic process involving millions, and in some markets billions, of people making personal decisions that express their preferences. When you hear someone say that he doesn't trust the market, and wants to replace it with government edicts, he's really calling for a switch from a democratic process to a totalitarian one.

  Walter E. Williams

  Government, People, Decision

• Minimum-wage laws are one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of racists.

  Walter E. Williams

  Powerful, Law, Liberty

• Government is necessary, but the only rights we can delegate to government are the ones we possess. For example, we all have a natural right to defend ourselves against predators. Since we possess that right, we can delegate authority to government to defend us. By contrast, we don't have a natural right to take the property of one person to give to another; therefore, we cannot legitimately delegate such authority to government.

  Walter E. Williams

  Rights, Government, Giving

• ...[I]f we care about our remaining liberties we must at some point draw a line in the sand and let politicians and bureaucrats know we will not tolerate further encroachment on our God-given rights to liberty.

  Walter E. Williams

  Rights, Liberty, Care

• If our country is to survive and prosper, we must summon the courage to condemn and reject the liberal agenda, and we had better do it soon.

  Walter E. Williams

  Country, Liberty, Agendas

  Walter E. Williams (2013). “More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well”, p.179, Hoover Press

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