Libertarian Quotes - Page 23

• There can be no freedom without freedom to fail.

  Eric Hoffer

  Liberty, Failing, Libertarianism

  "The Ordeal of Change". Book by Eric Hoffer, 1963.

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• There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a more alarming situation.

  Frederic Bastiat

  Thinking, People, Liberty

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• The program of liberalism if condensed into a single word, would have to read: property, that is, private ownership of the means of production.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Liberty, Economic, Program

  "The free and prosperous commonwealth: an exposition of the ideas of classical liberalism".

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• A society that robs an individual of the product of his effort ... is not strictly speaking a society, but a mob held together by institutionalized gang violence.

  Ayn Rand

  Effort, Liberty, Together

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• Every movement that seeks to enslave a country, every dictatorship or potential dictatorship, needs some minority group as a scapegoat which it can blame for the nation's troubles and use as a justification of its own demands for dictatorial powers. In Soviet Russia, the scapegoat was the bourgeoisie; in Nazi Germany, it was the Jewish people; in America, it is the businessmen.

  Ayn Rand

  Country, America, Russia

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.143, Penguin

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• Capitalism has created the highest standard of living ever known on earth. The evidence is incontrovertible. The contrast between West and East Berlin is the latest demonstration, like a laboratory experiment for all to see. Yet those who are loudest in proclaiming their desire to eliminate poverty are loudest in denouncing capitalism. Man's well-being is not their goal.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, East Berlin, Goal

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.126, Penguin

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• Fundamentally, there are only two ways of coordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion - the technique of the army and of the modern totalitarian state. The other is voluntary cooperation of individuals - the technique of the marketplace.

  Milton Friedman

  Army, Two, Liberty

  Milton Friedman (2017). “Milton Friedman on Freedom: Selections from The Collected Works of Milton Friedman”, p.28, Hoover Press

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• I was guilty of judging capitalism by its operations and socialism by its hopes and aspirations; capitalism by its works and socialism by its literature.

  Sidney Hook

  Judging, Society, Liberty

  Sidney Hook (1987). “Out of step: an unquiet life in the 20th century”, Harpercollins

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• I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their political interests are entirely distinct from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances, their forms and principles of government, are all foreign to us. They are nations of eternal war.

  Thomas Jefferson

  War, Europe, Government

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, 4: Correspondence and Private Papers”, p.375

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• Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with them.

  Thomas Paine

  Happiness, America, Liberty

  Thomas Paine (1819). “The American Crisis”, p.15

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• The society exists for the benefit of its members; not its members for the benefit of the society.

  Herbert Spencer

  Liberty, Benefits, Members

  "The Principles of Sociology".

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• The New Deal began, like the Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity. It ended, again like the Salvation Army, by running flop-houses and disturbing the peace.

  H. L. Mencken

  Running, Army, House

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.622, Vintage

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• People fear witches, and burn women.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  People, Liberty, Witch

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• A tyranny based on ... deception and maintained by terror must inevitably perish from the poison it generates within itself.

  Albert Einstein

  Deception, Liberty, Poison

  Albert Einstein (2011). “Essays in Humanism”, p.96, Open Road Media

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• We find many things to which the prohibition of them constitutes the only temptation.

  William Hazlitt

  Temptation, Liberty, Prohibition

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1484, Delphi Classics

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• Depressions and mass unemployment are not caused by the free market but by government interference in the economy.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Government, Liberty, Unemployment

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• I believe the states can best govern our home concerns, and the general government our foreign ones.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Believe, Home, Government

  "The Real Thomas Jefferson".

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• The police can't stop an intruder, mugger, or stalker from hurting you. They can pursue him only after he has hurt or killed you. Protecting yourself from harm is your responsibility, and you are far less likely to be hurt in a neighborhood of gun-owners than in one of disarmed citizens - even if you don't own a gun yourself.

  Harry Browne

  Hurt, Responsibility, Gun

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• No state, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union. Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of anarchy.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Essence, Ideas, Liberty

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• The future inhabitants of [both] the Atlantic and Mississippi states will be our sons. We think we see their happiness in their union, and we wish it. Events may prove otherwise; and if they see their interest in separating why should we take sides? God bless them both, and keep them in union if it be for their good, but separate them if it be better.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Son, Thinking, Wish

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”, p.512

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• Our government is an agency of delegated and strictly limited powers. Its founders did not look to its preservation by force; but the chain they wove to bind these States together was one of love and mutual good offices.

  Jefferson Davis

  Agency, Government, Office

  Jefferson Davis, Dr WIlliam Peters (2014). “A Short HIstory of the Confederate States of America”, p.30, Lulu.com

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• Switzerland is a land where crime is virtually unknown, yet most Swiss males are required by law to keep in their homes what amounts to a portable, personal machine gun.

  Tom Clancy

  Home, Gun, Law

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• Government is not the solution, but rather the cause of our problems.

  Ronald Reagan

  Government, Liberty, Causes

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• It's wrong for someone to confiscate your money, give it to someone else, and call that "compassion."

  Harry Browne

  Compassion, Giving, Liberty

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• Whatever the issue, let freedom offer us a hundred choices, instead of having government force one answer on everyone.

  Harry Browne

  Government, Issues, Choices

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