Libertarian Quotes - Page 20

• Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.

  Unknown

  Government, Liberty, Mob Rule

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• Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.

  Adam Smith

  Government, Liberty, Citizens

  Adam Smith, James R. Otteson (2004). “Adam Smith: Selected Philosophical Writings”, p.100, Imprint Academic

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• Perpetual war for perpetual peace.

  Charles A. Beard

  War, Revisionism, Perpetual

  "I am the perfect example of censorship in the United States". www.theguardian.com. March 29, 2001.

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• People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

  Taylor Caldwell

  Government Welfare, People, National Debt

  "A Pillar of Iron". Book by Taylor Caldwell, 1965.

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• He who controls the past controls the future.

  Laozi

  Future, Past, Political Language

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• We protest solemnly in the face of mankind, that we desire peace at any sacrifice, save that of honor.

  Jefferson Davis

  Sacrifice, Honor, Liberty

  Jefferson Davis (1963). “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (Complete)”, p.381, Library of Alexandria

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• Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun. Change your thoughts and you change your world.

  Norman Vincent Peale

  World, Unfinished, Change Your Thoughts

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• We cannot restore traditional American freedom unless we limit the government's power to tax.

  Frank Chodorov

  Government, Tinkering, Limits

  Frank Chodorov (2007). “Income Tax: Root of All Evil”, p.10, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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• We're told cars cause pollution. A hundred years ago city streets were ankle deep in horse excrement. What kind of pollution do you want? Would you rather die of cancer at eighty or typhoid fever at nine?

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Horse, Cancer, Years

  "Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut". Book by P. J. O'Rourke, 1996.

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• The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom...

  Ronald Reagan

  Government, Desire, Conservative

  "Reason" Magazine, July 1, 1975.

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• I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe.... They are nations of eternal war.

  Thomas Jefferson

  War, Europe, United States

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Late President of the United States”, p.375

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• A politician who commends himself as 'caring' and 'sensitive' because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that he's willing to do good with other peoples' money.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Caring, Government, Liberty

  P. J. O'Rourke (2007). “The Enemies List”, p.150, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• A tiny and closed fraternity of privileged men, elected by no one, and enjoying a monopoly sanctioned and licensed by government.

  Spiro T. Agnew

  Men, Liberty, Tiny

  John R. Coyne, Spiro T. Agnew (1972). “The Impudent Snobs: Agnew Vs. the Intellectual Establishment”, New Rochelle, N.Y. : Arlington House

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• Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he does good not because he is forced to do so, but because he freely conceives it, wants it, and loves it.

  Mikhail Bakunin

  Liberty, And Love, Individual Morality

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• It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny.

  James F. Cooper

  Freedom, Men, Democracies Have

  "The American Democrat: Or, Hints on the Social and Civic Relations of the United States of America". Book by James Fenimore Cooper, 1838.

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• Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.

  John Kenneth Galbraith

  Memories, Freedom, Political

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• We Americans have no commission from God to police the world.

  Benjamin Harrison

  War, Presidential, Police

  Benjamin Harrison, United States. President (1889-1893 : Harrison) (1969). “Benjamin Harrison, 1833-1901: chronology, documents, bibliographical aids”

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• Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.

  William Penn

  Thinking, Democracies Have, People

  Benjamin Franklin, William Penn (2012). “Franklin's Way to Wealth and Penn's Maxims”, p.51, Courier Corporation

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• Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

  Bertrand Russell

  Country, Hippie, Patriotic

  Bertrand Russell (1962). “Has Man a Future?”

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• If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Success, Music, Forgiveness

  Walden ch. 18 (1854). Frequently quoted as "marches to the tune of a different drummer."

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• In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.

  Leo Tolstoy

  Peace, War, Independent

  graf Leo Tolstoy (1904). “Essays, letters, miscellanies”

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• In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us.

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

  Food, Feet, Slave

  Fyodor Dostoevsky (1981). “Grand Inquisitor”, p.8, A&C Black

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• It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Government, Effort, Sloth

  P. J. O'Rourke (2007). “Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government”, p.36, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• This country is a one-party country. Half of it is called Republican and half is called Democrat. It doesn't make any difference. All the really good ideas belong to the Libertarians.

  Hugh Downs

  Country, Party, Ideas

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• I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.

  Robert Frost

  Rights, Political, Icy

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