Lysander Spooner Quotes - Page 2

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• The strong are always free by virtue of their superior strength. So long as government is a mere contest as to which of two parties shall rule the other, the weaker must always succumb. And whether the contest be carried on with ballots or bullets, the principle is the same; for under the theory of government now prevailing, the ballot either signifies a bullet, or it signifies nothing. And no one can consistently use a ballot, unless he intends to use a bullet, if the latter should be needed to insure submission to the former.

  Lysander Spooner

  Strong, Party, Two

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

  18 Copy quote

• The only security men can have for their political liberty, consists in keeping their money in their own pockets.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Political, Liberty

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

  11 Copy quote

• There can be no criminal intent in resisting injustice.

  Lysander Spooner

  Criminals, Injustice, Resisting

  Lysander Spooner (1850). “A Defence for Fugitive Slaves”, p.36

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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”

  14 Copy quote

• One essential of a free government is that it rest wholly on voluntary support. And one certain proof that a government is not free, is that it coerces more or less persons to support it, against their will.

  Lysander Spooner

  Government, Support, Essentials

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

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• And the men who loan money to governments, so called, for the purpose of enabling the latter to rob, enslave, and murder their people, are among the greatest villains that the world has ever seen. And they as much deserve to be hunted and killed (if they cannot otherwise be got rid of) as any slave traders, robbers, or pirates that ever lived.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, People, Pirate

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

  8 Copy quote

• 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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• All, or nearly all, the advantage there is in fixing any constitutional limits to the power of a government, is simply to give notice to the government of the point at which it will meet with resistance.

  Lysander Spooner

  Government, Giving, Limits

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

  7 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

  16 Copy quote

• Martyrdom is evidence only of a man's honesty - it is no evidence that he is not mistaken. Men have suffered martyrdom for all sorts of opinions in politics and in religion; yet they could not therefore have all been in the right; although they could give no stronger evidence that they believed themselves in the right.

  Lysander Spooner

  Honesty, Men, Giving

  Lysander SPOONER (1836). “The Deist's Reply to the Alleged Supernatural Evidences of Christianity, Etc”, p.6

  7 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

  36 Copy quote

• 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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• In reality there is no such thing as an inflation of prices, relatively to gold. There is such a thing as a depreciated paper currency.

  Lysander Spooner

  Reality, Gold, Paper

  Lysander Spooner (1873). “A New Banking System: the Needful Capital for Rebuilding the Burnt District”, p.21

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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”

  34 Copy quote

• And there is no difference, in principle - but only in degree - between political and chattel slavery. The former, no less than the latter, denies a man's ownership of himself and the products of his labor; and asserts that other men may own him, and dispose of him and his property, for their uses, and at their pleasure.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Differences, Political

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

  5 Copy quote

• 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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• 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

  23 Copy quote

• Majorities, as such, afford no guarantees for justice. They are men of the same nature as minorities. They have the same passions for fame, power, and money, as minorities; and are liable and likely to be equally - perhaps more than equally, because more boldly - rapacious, tyrannical and unprincipled, if intrusted with power.

  Lysander Spooner

  Passion, Men, Justice

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

  12 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

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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

  48 Copy quote

• 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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• 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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• The right of revolution, which tyrants, in mockery, accord to mankind, is no legal right under a government; it is only a natural right to overturn a government.

  Lysander Spooner

  Government, Tyrants, Revolution

  Lysander Spooner (2004). “An Essay on the Trial by Jury”, p.10, The Minerva Group, Inc.

  10 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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• 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

  30 Copy quote

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