Libertarian Quotes - Page 4

• The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.

  George Washington

  Patience, Inspiration, 4th Of July

  33 Copy quote

• The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.

  George Washington

  Travel, War, 4th Of July

  George Washington (1836). “The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private, Selected and Published from the Original Manuscripts; with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.367

  64 Copy quote

  Show source

• Prohibition... goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes... A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Weed, Men, Blow

  137 Copy quote

• A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

  James Madison

  Gun, Libertarian Party, Assault Weapons

  James Madison, Gaillard Hunt, James Brown Scott (1999). “The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: Which Framed the Constitution of the United States of America”, p.690, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

  58 Copy quote

  Show source

• Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping toward destruction. Therefore, everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interest of everyone hangs on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Struggle, Responsibility, Men

  Ludwig Von Mises (1974). “Planning for freedom, and twelve other essays and addresses”

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters

  Daniel Webster

  Mean, Men, Gun

  Daniel Webster, James Rees (1839). “The beauties of the Hon. Daniel Webster: selected and arranged, with a critical essay on his genius and writings”, p.30

  89 Copy quote

  Show source

• But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

  Frederic Bastiat

  Law, Government, Giving

  Frederic Bastiat (2006). “The Law”, p.18, Filiquarian Publishing, LLC.

  59 Copy quote

  Show source

• The fact is that the average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Average, Justice

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Second Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.113, Vintage

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Wherever politics intrudes upon economic life, political success is readily attained by saying what people like to hear rather than what is demonstrably true. Instead of safeguarding truth and honesty, the state then tends to become a major source of insi

  Hans F. Sennholz

  Honesty, Freedom, People

  13 Copy quote

• Our democracy is but a name. We vote? What does that mean? It means that we choose between two bodies of real, though not avowed, autocrats. We choose between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

  Helen Keller

  Freedom, Real, Mean

  Helen Keller (2011). “To Live, to Think, to Hope: Inspirational Quotes by Helen Keller”, p.68, Matthew Gordon

  26 Copy quote

  Show source

• I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence 'democracy,' and the other, 'tyranny.'.

  Karl Popper

  Freedom, Government, Democracy

  Karl Raimund Popper (2002). “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge”, p.464, Psychology Press

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive.

  Henry Steele Commager

  Patriotic, Men, Thinking

  "The Problem of Dissent". "Saturday Review" Magazine, Volume 48, December 1965.

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

  George Washington

  4th Of July, Destiny, Government

  First Inaugural Address, New York, N.Y., 30 Apr. 1789

  32 Copy quote

  Show source

• Politicians never accuse you of 'greed' for wanting other people's money - only for wanting to keep your own money.

  Joseph Sobran

  People, Greed, Political

  69 Copy quote

• Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Liberty, Arbitrary

  "Minority Report".

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• Since there is no such entity as 'the public,' since the public is merely a number of individuals, the idea that 'the public interest' supersedes private interests and rights can have but one meaning: that the interests and rights of some individuals take precedence over the interests and rights of others.

  Ayn Rand

  Rights, Ideas, Numbers

  Ayn Rand (1990). “The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought”, p.243, Penguin

  25 Copy quote

  Show source

• The desire to rule is the mother of heresies.

  Saint John Chrysostom

  Mother, Desire, Liberty

  Saint John Chrysostom, William John Copeland (1840). “Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians: And Homilies on the Epistle to the Ephesians, of S. John Chrysostom ...”, p.81

  58 Copy quote

  Show source

• Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving to the citizen as much freedom of action and of being as comports with order and the rights of others, the institutions render him truly a freeman. He is left to pursue his means of happiness in his own manner.

  James F. Cooper

  Mean, Rights, Government

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

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Life, Government, Political

  P. J. O'Rourke (2007). “Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government”, p.25, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• Tyranny is always better organized than freedom.

  Charles Peguy

  Teaching, Libertarian Party, Liberty

  "Basic Verities, Prose and Poetry" by Charles Peguy, translated by Ann and Julien Green, New York: Pantheon, (p. 153), 1943.

  51 Copy quote

  Show source

• The proper and limited use of government is to invoke a common justice and keep the peace - and that is all.

  Leonard Read

  Government, Justice, Liberty

  7 Copy quote

• In order to get the power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness, but with qualities which are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning, cruelty.

  Leo Tolstoy

  Pride, Order, Opposites

  "The Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy".

  30 Copy quote

  Show source

• Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force...Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

  George Washington

  Peace, War, Government

  30 Copy quote

• Washington...has become an alien city-state that rules America, and much of the rest of the world, in the way that Rome ruled the Roman Empire.

  Richard J. Maybury

  Peace, War, Rome

  48 Copy quote

• A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Weed, Blow, Marijuana

  32 Copy quote