Libertarianism Quotes - Page 18

• Unnecessary laws are not good laws, but traps for money.

  Thomas Hobbes

  Freedom, Law, Liberty

  Thomas Hobbes (2008). “Leviathan”, p.256, Simon and Schuster

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• For your own good is a persuasive argument that will eventually make a man agree to his own destruction.

  Janet Frame

  Freedom, Men, Liberty

  Janet Frame (1980). “Faces in the water”

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• An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.

  T. S. Eliot

  Life, Fake People, Peace

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  To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.

  George Mason

  Strength, Peace, Gun

  George Mason's address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1788.

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• The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom-they are the pillars of society.

  Henrik Ibsen

  Truth, Freedom, Society

  Henrik Ibsen (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (Illustrated)”, p.1935, Delphi Classics

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• 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

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• 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

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• It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Libertarian Party, Government, People

  Benjamin Franklin, William Temple Franklin (1819). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin...: Posthumous and other writings”, p.111

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• 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

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• So the case stands, and under all the passion of the parties and the cries of battle lie the two chief moving causes of the struggle. Union means so many millions a year lost to the South; secession means the loss of the same millions to the North. The love of money is the root of this as of many many other evils ... the quarrel between North and South is, as it stands, solely a fiscal quarrel.

  Charles Dickens

  Lying, Party, Struggle

  Charles Dickens (1862). “All the Year Round: A Weekly Journal”, p.330

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• The American people, North and South, went into the [Civil] war as citizens of their respective states, they came out as subjects ... what they thus lost they have never got back.

  H. L. Mencken

  War, People, 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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• I expect to see trade wars, foreign policy disasters, a few race riots, a decrease in personal liberty, higher taxes, higher inflation and probably, economic collapse. The silver lining is, secession will probably become more feasible.

  Charley Reese

  War, Race, Liberty

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• The error is in the assumption that the General Government is a party to the constitutional compact. The States ... formed the compact, acting as sovereign and independent communities.

  John C. Calhoun

  Party, Independent, Errors

  JOHN C. CALHOUN (1855). “REPORTS AND PUBLIC LETTERS”, p.73

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• The standard of living of the common man is higher in those countries which have the greatest number of wealthy entrepreneurs.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Country, Men, Numbers

  Ludwig Von Mises (2008). “Planning for Freedom: Let the Market System Work : a Collection of Essays and Addresses”

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• If you would not confront your neighbor and demand his money at the point of a gun to solve every new problem that may appear in your life, you should not allow the government to do it for you.

  William E. Simon

  Gun, Government, Liberty

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• First they came for the Jews, but I did nothing because I'm not a Jew. Then they came for the socialists, but I did nothing because I'm not a socialist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I did nothing because I'm not a Catholic. Finally, they came for me, but by then there was no one left to help me.

  Martin Niemoller

  Libertarian Party, Poetry, Catholic

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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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• 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.

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

  Ronald Reagan

  Government, Liberty, Libertarian

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• 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

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• Here's your enemy for this week, the government says. And some gullible Americans click their heels and salute - often without knowing who or even where the enemy of the week is.

  Charley Reese

  Government, Knowing, Libertarian Party

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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 only thing that saves us from bureaucracy is its inefficiency.

  Eugene McCarthy

  Liberty, Politics, Libertarian

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• It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve.

  Henry George

  Religious, Men, Rights

  Henry George, A. C. Auchmuty (1908). “Gems from Henry George: being memorable passages from the writings and addresses of the author of "Progress and poverty"”

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