Liberty Quotes - Page 25

• Liberty, then, is the SOVEREIGNTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL.

  Josiah Warren

  Individual, Sovereignty, Individual Liberty

  "Equitable commerce: a new development of principles as substitutes for laws and governments, for the harmonious adjustment and regulation of the pecuniary, intellectual, and moral intercourse of mankind, proposed as elements of new society".

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• Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim tribute to patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness - these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. . . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.

  George Washington

  Religious, Business, Men

  "George Washington’s Farewell Address". "The Life of George Washington. Special Edition for Schools", ed. Robert Faulkner and Paul Carrese, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, oll.libertyfund.org. 2000.

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• The most fundamental purpose of government is defense, not empire.

  Joseph Sobran

  Government, Libertarian Party, Defense

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• I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their political interests are entirely distinct from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances, their forms and principles of government, are all foreign to us. They are nations of eternal war.

  Thomas Jefferson

  War, Europe, Government

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, 4: Correspondence and Private Papers”, p.375

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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

  Libertarian, Wealth, Limitless

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• Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Men, Giving, Freedom Of Speech

  Thurgood Marshall, Mark V. Tushnet (2001). “Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions, and Reminiscences”, p.11, Chicago Review Press

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• Perhaps the removal of trade restrictions throughout the world would do more for the cause of universal peace than can any political union of peoples separated by trade barriers.

  Frank Chodorov

  Political, World, Unions

  Frank Chodorov (1959). “The Rise & Fall of Society”, p.54, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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• Democracy is the road to socialism.

  Karl Marx

  Historical, Democracy, Libertarian

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• Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.

  Guy de Maupassant

  War, Patriotic, Eggs

  Guy de Maupassant (1926*). “The Novels and Tales of Guy de Maupassant”

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• The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. Put it in his hand and it's good-bye to the Bill of Rights.

  H. L. Mencken

  Gun, Rights, Hands

  "On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe". Book by H L. Mencken, 1956.

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• Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.

  H. L. Mencken

  Auctions, Politics, Election

  "Prejudices: First Series". Book by H. L. Mencken, 1919.

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• Public works are not accomplished by the miraculous power of a magic wand. They are paid for by funds taken away from the citizens.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Taken, Magic, Gold

  Ludwig Von Mises (1963). “Human action: a treatise on economics”

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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, Libertarian, Resources

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• A bureaucrat is the most despicable of men, though he is needed as vultures are needed, but one hardly admires vultures whom bureaucrats so strangely resemble. I have yet to meet a bureaucrat who was not petty, dull, almost witless, crafty or stupid, an oppressor or a thief, a holder of little authority in which he delights, as a boy delights in possessing a vicious dog. Who can trust such creatures?

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Dog, Stupid, Boys

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• I emphasize the reply that the liberty which a citizen enjoys is to be measured, not by the nature of the governmental machinery he lives under, whether representative or other, but by the relative paucity of the restraints it imposes on him.

  Herbert Spencer

  Citizens, Libertarian, Machinery

  "The man versus the state: with six essays on government, society, and freedom".

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• Immigrants used to come to America seeking freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom from government. Now they come looking for free health care, free education, and a free lunch.

  Harry Browne

  Government, Free Education, Lunch

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• Any president that lies to the American people should have to resign.

  William J. Clinton

  Lying, Should Have, People

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• It is not the business of the law to make anyone good or reverent or moral or clean or upright.

  Murray Rothbard

  Law, Justice, Libertarian

  Murray Newton Rothbard (1978). “For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto”, p.127, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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• Liberals believe government should take people's earnings to give to poor people. Conservatives disagree. They think government should confiscate people's earnings and give them to farmers and insolvent banks. The compelling issue to both conservatives and liberals is not whether it is legitimate for government to confiscate one's property to give to another, the debate is over the disposition of the pillage.

  Walter E. Williams

  Believe, Thinking, Government

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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, Libertarian, Certainty

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• The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.

  Ayn Rand

  Winning, Evil, Hatred

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.170, Penguin

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• When democratic governments create economic calamity, free markets get the blame.

  Jack Kemp

  Government, Libertarian, Blame

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• There cannot be a good tax nor a just one; every tax rests its case on compulsion.

  Frank Chodorov

  Libertarian, Cases, Taxes

  Frank Chodorov (1947). “Taxation is Robbery ...”

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• Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

  Bertrand Russell

  Country, Hippie, Patriotic

  Bertrand Russell (1962). “Has Man a Future?”

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• Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.

  Bertrand Russell

  4th Of July, Patriotic, Government

  "Sceptical Essays". Ch. 13: Freedom in Society. Book by Bertrand Russell, 1928.

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