Lysander Spooner Quotes

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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”

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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”

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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.

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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

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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”

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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”

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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”

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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".

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Legally speaking, there are no such things as 'public rights,' as distinguished from individual rights. Legally speaking, there is no such creature or thing as 'the public.'

Lysander Spooner

Rights, Individual, Distinguished

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

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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

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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

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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

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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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Children learn many principles of natural law at a very early age. For example: they learn that when one child has picked up an apple or a flower, it is his, and that his associates must not take it from him against his will.

Lysander Spooner

Children, Flower, Law

Lysander Spooner (1847). “The unconstitutionality of slavery: including parts first and second”, p.141

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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

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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”

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If our fathers, in 1776, had acknowledged the principle that a majority had the right to rule the minority, we should never have become a nation; for they were in a small minority, as compared with those who claimed the right to rule over them.

Lysander Spooner

Father, America, Historical

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

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The only idea they have ever manifested as to what is a government of consent, is this - that it is one to which everybody must consent, or be shot.

Lysander Spooner

Government, Ideas, Shots

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

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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

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No principle, that is possible to be named, can be more self-evidently false than this; or more self-evidently fatal to all political freedom. Yet it triumphed in the field, and is now assumed to be established. If it really be established, the number of slaves, instead of having been diminished by the war, has been greatly increased; for a man, thus subjected to a government that he does not want, is a slave.

Lysander Spooner

War, Men, Self

Lysander Spooner (1867). “No Treason: No. 1-”, p.3

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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

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Born: January 19, 1808
Died: May 14, 1887
Occupation: Philosopher
Cite this Page: Citation

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