Libertarian Quotes

• Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

  Milton Friedman

  Freedom, Liberty, Belief

  Milton Friedman, Rose D. Friedman (2002). “Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition”, p.15, University of Chicago Press

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• When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty.

  Confucius

  People, Liberty, Loses

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• Democracy has nothing to do with freedom. Democracy is a soft variant of communism, and rarely in the history of ideas has it been taken for anything else.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Freedom, Taken, Democracies Have

  "Reflections on State and War". Talk in Auburn, Alabama, on the occasion of receiving the Mises Institute’s 2006 Gary G. Schlarbaum Liberty Prize, www.lewrockwell.com. December 02, 2006.

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  The government was set to protect man from criminals, and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Libertarian Party, Liberty

  Ayn Rand (1964). “The Virtue of Selfishness”, p.92, Penguin

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  The essential notion of a capitalist society ... is voluntary cooperation, voluntary exchange. The essential notion of a socialist society is force.

  Milton Friedman

  Liberty, Essentials, Cooperation

  Milton Friedman, William Richard Allen (1983). “Bright promises, dismal performance: an economist's protest”, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc.

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• It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow citizens.

  Adam Smith

  Self, Humanity, Liberty

  Adam Smith (1817). “An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations0: With a life of the author : Also a view of the doctrine of Smith, compared with that of the french economists ...”, p.19

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• There is no moral distinction between the act of a pickpocket and the progressive income tax.

  Leonard Read

  Income, Moral, Progressive

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• I don't believe in quotas. America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights.

  Clarence Thomas

  Philosophy, Believe, Rights

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• Where men cannot freely convey their thoughts to one another, no other liberty is secure.

  William Ernest Hocking

  Men, Liberty, Secure

  William Ernest Hocking (1948). “Freedom of the Press”

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• All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.

  I. F. Stone

  Life, Running, Freedom

  American journalist, 1973.

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• The true remedy for most evils is none other than liberty, unlimited and complete liberty, liberty in every field of human endeavor.

  Gustave de Molinari

  Evil, Liberty, Fields

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• If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all.

  Jacob G. Hornberger

  Libertarian Party, Liberty, Libertarianism

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• Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.

  Honore de Balzac

  Liberty, Giants, Bureaucracy

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• The problem is that democracy is not freedom. Democracy is simply majoritarianism, which is inherently incompatible with real freedom. Our founding fathers clearly understood this.

  Ron Paul

  Father, Real, Democracy

  "Democracy Isn’t Freedom" by Ron Paul, www.lewrockwell.com. February 7, 2005.

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• America needs fewer laws, not more prisons.

  James Bovard

  Law, America, Liberty

  James Bovard (2016). “Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty”, p.6, St. Martin's Griffin

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• Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

  Thomas Paine

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  The American Crisis, 12 Sept. 1777

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• When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Freedom, Carpe Diem, Diversity

  Address at Faneuil Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1925.

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• Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

  Ronald Reagan

  Veterans Day, Freedom, Our Veterans

  Labor Day Address at Liberty State Park, delivered 1 September 1980, Jersey City, New Jersey

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• Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Freedom, Libertarian Party, Historical

  Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.23, Heron Dance Press

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• Taxation of earnings from labor is on a par with forced labor.

  Robert Nozick

  Liberty, Taxation, Earning

  Robert Nozick (1974). “Anarchy, state, and utopia”

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• Let the people decide through the marketplace mechanism what they wish to see and hear. Why is there this national obsession to tamper with this box of transistors and tubes when we don't do the same for Time magazine?

  Mark S. Fowler

  People, Wish, Liberty

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• Vote for me. I'll use my office to take another American's money and give it to you.

  Walter E. Williams

  Giving, Office, Liberty

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• When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both.

  James Dale Davidson

  Liberty, Politics, Poverty

  James Dale Davidson, William Rees-Mogg (1994). “The Great Reckoning: Protecting Yourself in the Coming Depression”, p.433, Simon and Schuster

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• What we should have fought for was representation without taxation.

  Sam Levenson

  Should Have, Liberty, Taxation

  Sam Levenson (2016). “You Don't Have to Be in Who's Who to Know What's What: The Choice Wit and Wisdom of Sam Levenson”, p.103, Open Road Media

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• Liberals want the government to be your Mommy. Conservatives want government to be your Daddy. Libertarians want it to treat you like an adult.

  Andre Marrou

  Government, Daddy, Political

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