Coercion Quotes

• Political freedom means the absence of coercion of a man by his fellow men.

  Milton Friedman

  Freedom, Mean, Men

  Milton Friedman (2009). “Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition”, p.15, University of Chicago Press

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• One who uses coercion is guilty of deliberate violence. Coercion is inhuman.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Liberty, Use, Libertarian

  Mahatma Gandhi, Anand T. Hingorani, Ganga Anand Hingorani (1985). “The Encyclopaedia of Gandhian Thoughts”

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• Remember that mindsets can not be changed through force and coercion. No idea can ever be forcibly thrust upon any one.

  Pervez Musharraf

  Change, Ideas, Pakistan

  FaceBook post by Pervez Musharraf from Dec 26, 2011

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• Coercion cannot but result in chaos in the end.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Chaos, Ends, Results

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• Coersion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him.

  Ronald Reagan

  Men, Politics, Capture

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• The exercise of one coercion always makes another inevitable.

  Anders Chydenius

  Exercise, Inevitable

  "Thoughts on the Natural Rights of Servants and Peasants". Book by Anders Chydenius, 1778.

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• If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Wish, Liberty, Essentials

  "The Constitution of Liberty". Book by F.A. Hayek, Chap. 6: "Equality, Value and Merit," Routledge (p. 77), 1960.

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• It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty.

  Albert Einstein

  Education, Mistake, Learning

  Albert Einstein, Stephen W. Hawking (2007). “A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion: The Essential Scientific Works of Albert Einstein”, p.346, Running Press

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• A law is not a law without coercion behind it.

  James A. Garfield

  Law, Intriguing, Behinds

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• Totalitarianism is never content to rule by external means, namely, through the state and a machinery of violence; thanks to its peculiar ideology and the role assigned to it in this apparatus of coercion, totalitarianism has discovered a means of dominating and terrorizing human beings from within.

  Hannah Arendt

  Peace, Mean, Peculiar

  Hannah Arendt (1968). “Totalitarianism: Part Three of The Origins of Totalitarianism”, p.47, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• The Founders recognized that Government is quite literally a necessary evil, that there must be opposition, between its various branches, and between political parties, for these are the only ways to temper the individual's greed for power and the electorates' desires for peace by submission to coercion or blandishment.

  David Mamet

  Party, Government, Evil

  "Hands Off Our Guns" by David Mamet, www.realclearpolitics.com. January 28, 2013.

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• A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike.

  John Steinbeck

  Travel, Struggle, Journey

  John Steinbeck (1980). “Travels with Charley in Search of America”, p.8, Penguin

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• A person who is wise does nothing against their will, nothing with sighing or under coercion.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Wise, Doe, Willpower

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• My method is conversion, not coercion, it is self-suffering, not the suffering of the tyrant. I know that method to be infallible.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Self, Tyrants, Suffering

  Mahatma Gandhi, Dennis Dalton (1996). “Gandhi: Selected Political Writings”, p.99, Hackett Publishing

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• Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Children, Hypocrite

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia II, Correspondence 1782-1786”, p.80, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Therefore coercion of the non-invasive, when justifiable at all, is to be justified on the ground that it secures, not a minimum of ' invasion, but a minimum of pain.

  Benjamin Tucker

  Pain, Atheism, Invasion

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• One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.

  Albert Einstein

  Motivational, School, Years

  Albert Einstein, Stephen W. Hawking (2007). “A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion: The Essential Scientific Works of Albert Einstein”, p.346, Running Press

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• The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Government, Political

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Inaugural addresses and messages. Replies to public addresses. Indian addresses. Miscellaneous: 1. Notes on Virginia; 2. Biographical sketches of distinguished men; 3. The batture of New Orleans”, p.400

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• If he who employs coercion against me could mould me to his purposes by argument, no doubt he would. He pretends to punish me because his argument is strong; but he really punishes me because his argument is weak.

  William Godwin

  Strong, Doubt, Purpose

  William Godwin (1798). “Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness: By William Godwin”, p.337

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• Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.

  John Stott

  Humble, Hands, Leader

  John R. W. Stott (1985). “Involvement: Social and sexual relationships in the modern world”, Fleming H. Revell Company

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• It is indeed probable that more harm and misery have been caused by men determined to use coercion to stamp out a moral evil than by men intent on doing evil.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Men, Thinking, Tyrants

  "The Constitution of Liberty". Book by Friedrich Hayek. Part II: "Freedom and the Law". Chapter 9: "Coercion and the State", 1960.

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• Considering the absence of legal coercion, the surprising thing is that men have for so long, and, on the whole, so reliably, adhered to what we might call the breadwinner ethic.

  Barbara Ehrenreich

  Men, Long, Might

  Barbara Ehrenreich (2011). “The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment”, p.11, Anchor

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• Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

  Maimonides

  Inspirational, Funny, Life

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• It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry.

  Albert Einstein

  Education, Mistake, Believe

  Albert Einstein, Stephen W. Hawking (2007). “A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion: The Essential Scientific Works of Albert Einstein”, p.346, Running Press

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• Universities are not here to be mediums for the coercion of other people, they're here to be mediums for the free exchange of ideas.

  A. Bartlett Giamatti

  Ideas, People, Mediums

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