Libertarian Quotes - Page 30

• You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot lift the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending

  William J. H. Boetcker

  Strong, Men, Helping

  "The Industrial Decalogue" (1916). These "ten cannots" are frequently, but falsely, attributed to Abraham Lincoln.

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• When freedom prevails, the ingenuity and inventiveness of people creates incredible wealth. This is the source of the natural improvement of the human condition.

  Brian Wesbury

  Creativity, People, Community

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• Enjoy yourself -it's later than you think.

  Guy Lombardo

  Inspirational, Life, Appreciation

  Song: Enjoy Yourself

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• Don't do drugs because if you do drugs you'll go to prison, and drugs are really expensive in prison.

  John Hardwick

  Weed, Marijuana, Addiction

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• Economic freedom is an essential requisite for political freedom. By enabling people to cooperate with one another without coercion or central direction, it reduces the area over which political power is exercised.

  Milton Friedman

  People, Political, Liberty

  Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman (1990). “Free to Choose: A Personal Statement”, p.20, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Self-interest is not myopic selfishness. It is whatever it is that interests the participants, whatever they value, whatever goals they pursue. The scientist seeking to advance the frontiers of his discipline, the missionary seeking to convert infidels to the true faith, the philanthropist seeking to bring comfort to the needy - all are pursuing their interests, as they see them, as they judge them by their own values.

  Milton Friedman

  Self, Discipline, Goal

  Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman (1990). “Free to Choose: A Personal Statement”, p.45, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• The times call for courage. The times call for hard work. But if the demands are high, it is because the stakes are even higher. They are nothing less than the future of human liberty, which means the future of civilization.

  Henry Hazlitt

  Hard Work, Mean, Civilization

  Henry Hazlitt, Hans F. Sennholz (1993). “The Wisdom of Henry Hazlitt”, Foundation for Economic Education

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• We suffer most when the White House busts with ideas.

  H. L. Mencken

  Ideas, White, House

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• America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She well knows that by enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standards of freedom.

  John Quincy Adams

  War, Ambition, Color

  Speech on Independence Day at the United States House of Representatives, teachingamericanhistory.org. July 04, 1821.

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• War has all the characteristics of socialism most conservatives hate: Centralized power, state planning, false rationalism, restricted liberties, foolish optimism about intended results, and blindness to unintended secondary results.

  Joseph Sobran

  Hate, War, Optimism

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• Collectivism doesn't work because it's based on a faulty economic premise. There is no such thing as a person's "fair share" of wealth. The gross national product is not a pizza that must be carefully divided because if I get too many slices, you have to eat the box. The economy is expandable and, in any practical sense, limitless.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Liberty, Wealth, Limitless

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• The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced. If the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt, people must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

  Taylor Caldwell

  Government, People, Arrogance

  "A Pillar of Iron". Book by Taylor Caldwell, 1965.

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• To tax the larger incomes at a higher percentage than the smaller, is to lay a tax on industry and economy; to impose a penalty on people for having worked harder and saved more than their neighbors.

  John Stuart Mill

  People, Liberty, Income

  John Stuart Mill (1866). “Principles of Political Economy: With Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy”, p.487

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• Show me a movement that doesn't hate somebody and I will join it at once.

  Robert Anton Wilson

  Hate, Liberty, Movement

  Robert Anton Wilson (1992). “Right where You are Sitting Now: Further Tales of the Illuminati”, Ronin Publishing

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• The more laws and restrictions there are,
  The poorer people become.
  The sharper men's weapons,
  The more trouble in the land.

  Laozi

  Law, People, Liberty

  "Tao te ching".

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• A little government involvement is just as dangerous as a lot - because the first leads inevitably to the second.

  Harry Browne

  Government, Liberty, Firsts

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• The only proper purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence.

  Ayn Rand

  Mean, Men, Rights

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.203, Penguin

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• I'm not going to pontificate and tell you to execute your government at dawn, but it wouldn't be a bad idea.

  John Lydon

  Government, Ideas, Liberty

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• It's no accident that capitalism has brought with it progress, not merely in production but also in knowledge. Egoism and competition are, alas, stronger forces than public spirit and sense of duty.

  Albert Einstein

  Competition, Stronger, Progress

  Albert Einstein (2016). “The Albert Einstein Collection: Essays in Humanism, The Theory of Relativity, and The World As I See It”, p.208, Open Road Media

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• Petty laws breed great crimes.

  Ouida

  Law, Liberty, Crime

  Ouida (2016). “Wisdom, Wit and Pathos of Ouida”, p.260, Ouida

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• The American Dream was not about government's taking huge sums of money (under the label of "taxation") from citizens by force. The American Dream was about individualism and the opportunity to achieve success without interference from others.

  Robert Ringer

  Dream, Opportunity, Government

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• I favor free trade in drugs for the same reason the Founding Fathers favored free trade in ideas: in a free society it is none of the government's business what ideas a man puts into his mind; likewise, it should be none of its business what drugs he puts into his body.

  Thomas Szasz

  Father, Men, Ideas

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• It rankles me when somebody tries to force somebody to do something.

  John Wayne

  Trying, Liberty, Force

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• The people of the various provinces are strictly forbidden to have in their possession any swords, bows, spears, firearms or other types of arms. The possession of these elements makes difficult the collection of taxes and dues, and tends to permit uprising.

  Toyotomi Hideyoshi

  Uprising, People, Elements

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• People who create things nowadays can expect to be prosecuted by highly moralistic people who are incapable of creating anything. There is no way to measure the chilling effect on innovation that results from the threats of taxation, regulation and prosecution against anything that succeeds. We'll never know how many ideas our government has aborted in the name protecting us.

  Joseph Sobran

  Ideas, Creating, Government

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