Lysander Spooner Quotes

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• If any man's money can be taken by a so-called government, without his own personal consent, all his other rights are taken with it; for with his money the government can, and will, hire soldiers to stand over him, compel him to submit to its arbitrary will, and kill him if he resists.

  Lysander Spooner

  Taken, Men, Rights

  Lysander Spooner (1886). “A Letter to Grover Cleveland on His False Inaugural Address, the Usurpation and Crimes of Lawmakers and Judges, and Consequent Poverty, Ignorance, and Servitude of the People”

  39 Copy quote

• A man's natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime, whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, (or by any other name indicating his true character,) or by millions, calling themselves a government.

  Lysander Spooner

  Character, Men, Rights

  Lysander Spooner (1867). “No Treason: No. 1-”, p.7

  27 Copy quote

• A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years.

  Lysander Spooner

  Freedom, Men, Years

  Lysander Spooner (1973). “No Treason and a Letter to Thomas F. Bayard”

  57 Copy quote

• The fact is that the government, like a highwayman, says to a man: Your money, or your life. And many, if not most, taxes are paid under the compulsion of that threat.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Facts, Threat

  Lysander Spooner (1972). “Let's Abolish Government”, Ayer Company Pub

  50 Copy quote

• But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.

  Lysander Spooner

  Government, Constitution, Cases

  Lysander Spooner (1971). “The collected works of Lysander Spooner”

  24 Copy quote

• Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it.

  Lysander Spooner

  Perjury, Tyranny, Capable

  Lysander Spooner (2004). “An Essay on the Trial by Jury”, p.9, The Minerva Group, Inc.

  33 Copy quote

• No government knows any limits to its power except the endurance of the people.

  Lysander Spooner

  Power, Government, People

  Lysander Spooner (1852). “An Essay on the Trial by Jury”, p.19

  20 Copy quote

• Government is in reality established by the few; and these few assume the consent of all the rest, without any such consent being actually given.

  Lysander Spooner

  Reality, Government, Assuming

  Lysander Spooner (1847). “The unconstitutionality of slavery: including parts first and second”, p.153

  34 Copy quote

• To say that majorities, as such, have a right to rule minorities, is equivalent to saying that minorities have, and ought to have, no rights, except such as majorities please to allow them.

  Lysander Spooner

  Rights, Majority, Minorities

  Lysander Spooner (1867). “No Treason: No. 1-”, p.8

  13 Copy quote

• For everybody has a natural right not only to defend his own person and property against aggressors, but also to go to the assistance and defence of everybody else, whose person or property is invaded. The natural right of each individual to defend his own person and property against an aggressor, and to go to the assistance and defence of every one else whose person or property is invaded, is a right without which men could not exist on earth.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Earth, Citizenship

  "Vices Are Not Crimes: A Vindication of Moral Liberty".

  26 Copy quote

• The apology, that is constantly put forth for the injustice of government, viz., that a man must consent to give up some of his rights, in order to have his other rights protected - involves a palpable absurdity, both legally and politically.

  Lysander Spooner

  Giving Up, Apology, Men

  Lysander Spooner (1845). “The Unconstitutionality of Slavery”, p.21

  12 Copy quote

• It is self-evident that no number of men, by conspiring, and calling themselves a government, can acquire any rights whatever over other men, or other men's property, which they had not before, as individuals.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Rights, Self

  Lysander Spooner (1971). “The collected works of Lysander Spooner”

  11 Copy quote

• The right and the physical power of the people to resist injustice, are really the only securities that any people ever can have for their liberties. Practically no government knows any limit to its power but the endurance of the people.

  Lysander Spooner

  Government, People, Liberty

  Lysander Spooner (1850). “A Defence for Fugitive Slaves”, p.30

  14 Copy quote

• Now a slave is not 'held' by any legal contract, obligation, duty, or authority, which the laws will enforce. He is 'held' only by brute force. One person beats another until the latter will obey him, work for him, if he require it, or do nothing if he require it.

  Lysander Spooner

  Law, Slave, Authority

  Lysander Spooner (1850). “A Defence for Fugitive Slaves”, p.51

  10 Copy quote

• The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves; a contest, that-however bloody-can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Two, Long

  Lysander Spooner (1867). “No Treason: No. 1-”, p.9

  29 Copy quote

• Man, no doubt, owes many other moral duties to his fellow men; such as to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, protect the defenseless, assist the weak, and enlighten the ignorant. But these are simply moral duties, of which each man must be his own judge, in each particular case, as to whether, and how, and how far, he can, or will perform them.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Sick, Judging

  Lysander Spooner (1882). “Natural Law, Or, The Science of Justice: A Treatise on Natural Law, Natural Justice, Natural Rights, Natural Liberty, and Natural Society : Showing that All Legislation Whatsoever is an Absurdity, a Usurpation, and a Crime”

  27 Copy quote

• These so-called governments are in reality only great bands of robbers and murderers, organized, disciplined, and constantly on the alert.

  Lysander Spooner

  Reality, Government, Band

  Lysander Spooner (1971). “The collected works of Lysander Spooner”

  26 Copy quote

• Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property. Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property of another.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Vices, Crime

  Lysander Spooner (2006). “Vices Are Not Crimes: A Vindication of Moral Liberty”, p.1, ReadHowYouWant.com

  41 Copy quote

• A government that can at pleasure accuse, shoot, and hang men, as traitors, for the one general offence of refusing to surrender themselves and their property unreservedly to its arbitrary will, can practice any and all special and particular oppressions it pleases.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Practice, Special

  Lysander Spooner (1867). “No Treason: No. 1-”, p.15

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• Taking a man's money without his consent, is also as much robbery, when it is done by millions of men, acting in concert, and calling themselves a government, as when it is done by a single individual, acting on his own responsibility, and calling himself a highwayman.

  Lysander Spooner

  Responsibility, Men, Acting

  Lysander Spooner (1852). “An Essay on the Trial by Jury”, p.222

  18 Copy quote

• To deprive mankind of their natural right and power of creating wealth for themselves, is as great a tyranny as it is to rob them of it after they have created it. And this is done by all laws against honest banking.

  Lysander Spooner

  Law, Creating, Banking

  Lysander Spooner (1873). “A New Banking System: the Needful Capital for Rebuilding the Burnt District”, p.51

  11 Copy quote

• A slave government is an oligarchy; and one, too, of the most arbitrary and criminal character.

  Lysander Spooner

  Character, Government, Criminals

  Lysander Spooner (1845). “The Unconstitutionality of Slavery”, p.125

  9 Copy quote

• Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward others, and no interference with their persons or property.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Errors, Libertarian Party

  Lysander Spooner (2006). “Vices Are Not Crimes: A Vindication of Moral Liberty”, p.1, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• But that the people are stronger than the government, and will resist in extreme cases, our governments would be little or nothing else than organized systems of plunder and oppression.

  Lysander Spooner

  Government, People, Stronger

  Lysander Spooner (2004). “An Essay on the Trial by Jury”, p.13, The Minerva Group, Inc.

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• It is a natural impossibility for any man to make a binding contract, by which he shall surrender to others a single one of what are commonly called his 'natural, inherent, inalienable rights.'

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Rights, Surrender

  Lysander Spooner (1971). “The collected works of Lysander Spooner”

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