Walter E. Williams Quotes - Page 2

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• Nothing in our Constitution suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is a protector of rights.

  Walter E. Williams

  Rights, Government, Liberty

  Walter E. Williams (2013). “Liberty Versus the Tyranny of Socialism: Controversial Essays”, p.110, Hoover Press

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• For the multiculturist/diversity crowd, culture, ideas, customs, arts and skills are a matter of racial membership where one has no more control over his culture than his race. That's a racist idea, but it's politically correct racism. It says that one's convictions, character and values are not determined by personal judgment and choices but genetically determined. In other words, as yesteryear's racists held: race determines identity.

  Walter E. Williams

  Art, Character, Race

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• I have nothing against rich people. In fact, I've been struggling most of my life to join them.

  Walter E. Williams

  Struggle, People, Facts

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• I believe in helping our fellow man in need. I believe that reaching into your own pockets to help someone in need is praiseworthy and laudable. Reaching into somebody else's pockets to help your fellow man in need is despicable. And, or those of us who are Christians, I'm very sure that when God gave Moses the commandment Thou Shalt Not Steal, he did not mean ...unless you get a majority vote in Congress.

  Walter E. Williams

  Christian, Believe, Mean

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• We will not make inroads into the gun-violence problem until we acknowledge the underlying causes of youth behavior today, compared to yesterday. ... we must come to the realization that laws and regulations alone cannot produce a civilized society. It's morality that is society's first line of defense against uncivilized behavior.

  Walter E. Williams

  Gun, Law, Yesterday

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• No matter how worthy the cause, it is robbery, theft, and injustice to confiscate the property of one person and give it to another to whom it does not belong.

  Walter E. Williams

  Giving, Religion, Liberty

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• Politicians have immense power to do harm to the economy. But they have very little power to do good.

  Walter E. Williams

  Littles, Politician, Economy

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• Saying the Constitution is a living document is the same as saying we don't have a Constitution.

  Walter E. Williams

  Constitution, Documents

  Walter E. Williams (2013). “Liberty Versus the Tyranny of Socialism: Controversial Essays”, p.236, Hoover Press

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• Today's liberals wish to disarm us so they can run their evil and oppressive agenda on us. The fight against crime is just a convenient excuse to further their agenda. I don't know about you, but if you hear that Williams' guns have been taken, you'll know Williams is dead.

  Walter E. Williams

  Running, Taken, Fighting

  Walter E. Williams (1995). “Do the Right Thing: The People's Economist Speaks”, p.118, Hoover Press

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• However, if we wish to be compassionate with our fellow man, we must learn to engage in dispassionate analysis. In other words, thinking with our hearts, rather than our brains, is a surefire method to hurt those whom we wish to help.

  Walter E. Williams

  Hurt, Heart, Men

  Walter E. Williams (2013). “Liberty Versus the Tyranny of Socialism: Controversial Essays”, p.257, Hoover Press

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• Despite the miracles of capitalism, it doesn't do well in popularity polls. One of the reasons is that capitalism is always evaluated against the non-existent, non-realizable utopias of socialism or communism. Any earthly system, when compared to a Utopia, will pale in comparison. But for the ordinary person, capitalism, with all of its warts, is superior to any system yet devised to deal with our everyday needs and desires.

  Walter E. Williams

  Miracle, Everyday, Desire

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• Tyrants always condemn and seek to replace the market process with government coercion because tyrants do not trust that people behaving voluntarily will do what the tyrants think they should do.

  Walter E. Williams

  Thinking, Tyrants, Government

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• The prospects are dim for a society that makes mascots out of the unproductive and condemns the productive.

  Walter E. Williams

  Mascots, Prospects, Unproductive

  Walter E. Williams (2015). “American Contempt for Liberty”, p.358, Hoover Institution Press

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• Once Congress establishes that one person can live at the expense of another, it pays for everyone to try to do so.

  Walter E. Williams

  Trying, That One Person, Pay

  Walter E. Williams (2013). “Liberty Versus the Tyranny of Socialism: Controversial Essays”, p.107, Hoover Press

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• If we're ignorant of the historical sacrifices that made our liberties possible, we will be less likely to make the sacrifices again so that those liberties are preserved for future generations. And, if we're ignorant, we won't even know when government infringes on our liberties. Moreover, we'll happily cast our votes for those who'd destroy our liberties.

  Walter E. Williams

  Sacrifice, Government, Historical

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• Government schools can go for decades delivering low-quality services, and what's the result? The people who manage it earn higher pay. It's nearly impossible to fire the incompetents. And, taxpayers, who support the service, are given higher tax bills.

  Walter E. Williams

  School, Government, Fire

  Walter E. Williams (2013). “Liberty Versus the Tyranny of Socialism: Controversial Essays”, p.62, Hoover Press

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• Economic planning is nothing more than the forcible superseding of other people's plans by the powerful elite backed up by the brute force of government.

  Walter E. Williams

  Powerful, Government, People

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• In a free society, government has the responsibility of protecting us from others, but not from ourselves.

  Walter E. Williams

  Responsibility, Government, Liberty

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• Socialism is just another form of tyranny.

  Walter E. Williams

  Socialism, Form, Tyranny

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• A caged canary is safe but not free.

  Walter E. Williams

  Liberty, Safe, Libertarian

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• We might think of dollars as being 'certificates of performance.' The better I serve my fellow man, and the higher the value he places on that service, the more certificates of performance he gives me. The more certificates I earn, the greater my claim on the goods my fellow man produces. That's the morality of the market. In order for one to have a claim on what his fellow man produces, he must first serve him.

  Walter E. Williams

  Men, Thinking, Order

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• Wealth comes from successful individual efforts to please one's fellow man ... that's what competition is all about: "outpleasing" your competitors to win over the consumers.

  Walter E. Williams

  Successful, Winning, Men

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• The true test of one's commitment to liberty and private property rights doesn't come when we permit people to be free to do those voluntary things with which we agree. The true test comes when we permit people to be free to do those voluntary things with which we disagree.

  Walter E. Williams

  Commitment, Rights, People

  Walter E. Williams (2013). “More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well”, p.203, Hoover Press

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• How does something immoral, when done privately, become moral when it is done collectively? Furthermore, does legality establish morality? Slavery was legal; apartheid is legal; Stalinist, Nazi, and Maoist purges were legal. Clearly, the fact of legality does not justify these crimes. Legality, alone, cannot be the talisman of moral people.

  Walter E. Williams

  People, Doe, Done

  "All It Takes is Guts: A Minority View". Book by Walter E. Williams, 1987.

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• One of the wonderful things about free markets is that the path to greater wealth comes not from looting, plundering and enslaving one's fellow man, as it has throughout most of human history, but by serving and pleasing him.

  Walter E. Williams

  Men, Fellow Man, Path

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