Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism - including, of course, legal despotism? — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
Let us first of all frugality in government-peace and freedom we will have as a bonus. — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
Each of us has a natural right, from God, to defend his person, his liberty, and his property. — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
“The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable.” — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
“...for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works.” — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
“the common force cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, the liberty, or the property of individuals or of classes. For” — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
“at whatever point of the scientific horizon I start from, I invariably come to the same thing—the solution of the social problem… — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
“according to Montesquieu, the persons, the liberties, the property, mankind itself, are nothing but materials to exercise the sagacity of lawgivers." Rousseau.” — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
“I cannot possibly understand how fraternity can be legally enforced without liberty being legally destroyed...” — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
In short, is not liberty the freedom of every person to make full use of his faculties, so long as he does… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
If philanthropy is not voluntary, it destroys liberty and justice. The law can give nothing that has not first been taken from… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
Finally, is not liberty the restricting of the law only to its rational sphere of organizing the right of the individual to… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
Since the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to allow them liberty, how comes it to… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
Try to imagine a system of labor imposed by force that is not a violation of liberty; a transfer of wealth imposed… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
And what is liberty, whose very name makes the heart beat faster and shakes the world? Is it not the union of… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
It must be admitted that the tendency of the human race toward liberty is largely thwarted, especially in France. This is greatly… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty,… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
“You must see, then, that the socialist democrats cannot in conscience allow men any liberty, because, by their own nature, they tend… — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
The law is the collective organization of the individual's right to lawful defense of his life, liberty and property. When it is… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
Since no individual acting separately can lawfully use force to destroy the rights of others, does it not logically follow that the… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
“The social organs are constituted so as to enable them to develop harmoniously in the grand air of liberty. Away, then, with… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
If every person has the right to defend - even by force - his person, his liberty, and his property, then it… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
Law is justice. And it is under the law of justice - under the reign of right; under the influence of liberty,… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
“God has given to men all that is necessary for them to accomplish their destinies. He has provided a social form as… — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
“Which countries contain the most peaceful, the most moral, and the happiest people? Those people are found in the countries where the… — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
“Life Is a Gift from God. We hold from God the gift which includes all others. This gift is life -- physical,… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
The sort of dependence that results from exchange, i.e., from commercial transactions, is a reciprocal dependence. We cannot be dependent upon a… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
Life, faculties, production-in other words, individuality, liberty, property-this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
The state tends to expand in proportion to its means of existence and to live beyond its means, and these are, in… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
“It is not because men have made laws, that personality, liberty, and property exist. On the contrary, it is because personality, liberty,… — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
Property, the right to enjoy the fruits of one's labor, the right to work, to develop, to exercise one's faculties, according to… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
“It is easy to conceive that, according to the power of the legislator, it destroys for its own profit, and in different… — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
“And now, after having vainly inflicted upon the social body so many systems, let them end where they ought to have begun—reject… — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder. — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
The law is the collective organization of the individual's right to lawful defense of his life, liberty and property. When it is used for… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
If every person has the right to defend - even by force - his person, his liberty, and his property, then it follows that… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons and gendarmes at the… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
Slavery, protection, and monopoly find defenders, not only in those who profit by them, but in those who suffer by them. — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
Here I encounter the most popular fallacy of our times. It is not considered sufficient that the law should guarantee to every citizen the… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else. — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
There is in all of a strong disposition to believe that anything lawful is also legitimate. This belief is so widespread that many persons… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
I believe that my theory is correct; for whatever be the question upon which I am arguing, whether it be religious, philosophical, political, or… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a more alarming… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
“And now, after having vainly inflicted upon the social body so many systems, let them end where they ought to have begun—reject all systems,… — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share
When misguided public opinion honors what is despicable and despises what is honorable, punishes virtue and rewards vice, encourages what is harmful and discourages… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share
