Lysander Spooner Quotes

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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

  34 Copy quote

• 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”

  48 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.

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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”

  67 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

  41 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

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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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• 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”

  28 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

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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”

  17 Copy quote

• Our constitutions purport to be established by 'the people,' and, in theory, 'all the people' consent to such government as the constitutions authorize. But this consent of 'the people' exists only in theory. It has no existence in fact. 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, People

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

  19 Copy quote

• If taxation without consent is robbery, the United States government has never had, has not now, and is never likely to have, a single honest dollar in its treasury. If taxation without consent is not robbery, then any band of robbers have only to declare themselves a government, and all their robberies are legalized.

  Lysander Spooner

  Government, United States, Dollars

  "Let's Abolish Government".

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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".

  31 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”

  32 Copy quote

• All restraints upon man's natural liberty, not necessary for the simple maintenance of justice, are of the nature of slavery, and differ from each other only in degree.

  Lysander Spooner

  Freedom, Simple, Men

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

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• All these cries of having "abolished slavery," of having "saved the country," of having "preserved the union," of establishing a "government of consent," and of "maintaining the national honor," are all gross, shameless, transparent cheats - so transparent that they ought to deceive no one.

  Lysander Spooner

  Country, Government, Honor

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

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• 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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• 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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• 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 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• The principle, on which the war was waged by the North, was simply this: That men may rightfully be compelled to submit to, and support, a government that they do not want; and that resistance, on their part, makes them traitors and criminals.

  Lysander Spooner

  War, Men, Support

  Henry Bool, Lysander Spooner, Edwin C. Walker (1972). “Individualist anarchist pamphlets”

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