Libertarian Quotes - Page 12

• We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.

  William J. Clinton

  Gun, Rights, Government

  Clinton, William J. (1994). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton, 1993”, p.223, Best Books on

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• When all government ...in little as in great things... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power; it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, Truth, Knowledge

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont”, p.216

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• Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple stupid behavior.

  Dee Hock

  Educational, Stupid, Intelligent

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• Wherever is found what is called a paternal government, there is found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to insure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Education, School, Government

  Speech in the House of Commons, June 15, 1874.

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• The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people.

  William J. Clinton

  Rights, Government, People

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• The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Men, Liberty, Slave

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1978). “The old régime and the French Revolution”, Peter Smith Pub Inc

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• Individuality is the aim of political liberty.

  James F. Cooper

  Political, Individuality, Liberty

  "The American Democrat: Or, Hints on the Social and Civic Relations of the United States of America". Book by James Fenimore Cooper, "On Individuality", 1838.

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• The plans differ; the planners are all alike.

  Frederic Bastiat

  Liberty, Economic, Plans

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• What is the basic, the essential, the crucial principle that differentiates freedom from slavery? It is the principle of voluntary action versus physical coercion or compulsion.

  Ayn Rand

  Liberty, Principles, Essentials

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.43, Penguin

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• Whenever we depart from voluntary cooperation and try to do good by using force, the bad moral value of force triumphs over good intentions.

  Milton Friedman

  Trying, Liberty, Triumph

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

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• You cannot adopt politics as a profession and remain honest.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Political, Liberty, Honest

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• The strength of the Constitution, lies in the will of the people to defend it.

  Thomas A. Edison

  Lying, People, Liberty

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• When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional right to free speech, it acts lawlessly; and the citizen can take matters into his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all.

  William O. Douglas

  Exercise, Rights, Hands

  "Poulos v. New Hampshire, 345 U.S. 395". U.S. Supreme Court case, supreme.justia.com. April 27, 1953.

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• I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes as common as the grass.

  Laozi

  Letting Go, Desire, Liberty

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• Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.

  Seneca the Younger

  War, Law, Liberty

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• The ideal Government of all reflective men, from Aristotle onward, is one which lets the individual alone - one which barely escapes being no government at all.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Liberty, Intriguing

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.146, Vintage

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• Blacks were not enslaved because they were black but because they were available. Slavery has existed in the world for thousands of years. Whites enslaved other whites in Europe for centuries before the first black was brought to the Western hemisphere. Asians enslaved Europeans. Asians enslaved other Asians. Africans enslaved other Africans, and indeed even today in North Africa, blacks continue to enslave blacks.

  Thomas Sowell

  Years, Europe, Black

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• Not only can no one predict the future, we don't understand the present - and there isn't even any certainty about the past.

  Harry Browne

  Past, Liberty, Certainty

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• If you would not confront your neighbor and demand his money at the point of a gun to solve every new problem that may appear in your life, you should not allow the government to do it for you.

  William E. Simon

  Gun, Government, Liberty

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• When politics are used to allocate resources, the resources all end up being allocated to politics.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Political, Liberty, Resources

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• Being tolerant does not mean that I share another one's belief. But it does mean that I acknowledge another one's right to believe, and obey, his own conscience.

  Viktor E. Frankl

  Believe, Mean, Liberty

  Viktor E. Frankl (2014). “The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy”, p.46, Penguin

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• There is nothing new in the realization that the Constitution sometimes insulates the criminality of a few in order to protect the privacy of us all.

  Antonin Scalia

  Freedom, Order, Political

  "Opinion By Scalia Opposes Broad View Of Police Power" by Stuart Taylor Jr., www.nytimes.com. March 4, 1987.

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• In almost all matters, the real question should be: why are we letting government handle this?

  Harry Browne

  Letting Go, Real, Government

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• The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force.

  Adolf Hitler

  Fear, Military, Historical

  Adolf Hitler, General Press (2016). “Mein Kampf: (My Struggle)”, p.95, GENERAL PRESS

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• The era of resisting big government is never over.

  Paul Gigot

  Government, Liberty, Eras

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