Leonard Read

Is it not obvious that the more complex an economy, the more certainly will governmental control of productive effort exert a retarding…

— Leonard Read

Governments resort to inflation with popular support because the people apparently are naïve enough to believe that they can have their cake…

— Leonard Read

True, the free market ignores the poor precisely as it does not recognize the wealthy - it is 'no respecter of persons'

— Leonard Read

The American people are becoming more and more afraid of, and are running away from, their own revolution.

— Leonard Read

...the greatest political problem facing the world today is...how to curb the oppressive power of government, how to keep it within reasonable…

— Leonard Read

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

— Leonard Read

Statism, which forces all of us within its orbit, is nothing but a political system of organized plunder, managed by every conceivable…

— Leonard Read

There is no greater dishonesty than man effecting his own private gains at the expense of others.

— Leonard Read

Whenever government assumed responsibility for the security, welfare, and prosperity of citizens, the costs of government rise beyond the point where it…

— Leonard Read

Such terms as communism, socialism, Fabianism, the welfare state, Nazism, fascism, state interventionism, egalitarianism, the planned economy, the New Deal, the Fair…

— Leonard Read

What, actually, is the difference between communism and fascism? Both are forms of statism, authoritarianism. The only difference between Stalin's communism and…

— Leonard Read

Under both the welfare state and communism, the responsibility for the welfare, security, and prosperity of the people is presumed to rest…

— Leonard Read

What precisely is this disease that causes inflation and all these other troubles? It has many popular names, such as socialism, communism,…

— Leonard Read

The system of plunder derives much of its support from individuals who do not subscribe to socialism but who say, 'We're paying…

— Leonard Read

The free market opens the way for men to operate at their moral best, and all observation confirms that the poor fare…

— Leonard Read

[S]tatism is but socialized dishonesty; it is feathering the nests of some with feathers coercively plucked from others - on the grand…

— Leonard Read

Assume that a surgeon has discovered how to do brain surgery, that he can do only one a month, that 1,000 persons…

— Leonard Read

I would like to suggest to you that the extent to which government in America has departed from the original design of…

— Leonard Read

I would have government defend the life and property of all citizens equally; protect all willing exchange; suppress and penalize all fraud,…

— Leonard Read

The right way is the greatest gratifier of human wishes ever come upon - when allowed to operate. It is as morally…

— Leonard Read

It should be noted that people in the free market rarely bear false witness; integrity is the rule. The morning mile, phone…

— Leonard Read

It [the free market] is an organizational way of doing things, featuring openness, which enables millions of people to cooperate and compete…

— Leonard Read

I can remember the time when, if we wanted a house or housing, we relied on private enterprise. In fact, Americans built…

— Leonard Read

We need only take our heads out of the sand to see clearly that interventionism not only has failed to provide the…

— Leonard Read

The proper and limited use of government is to invoke a common justice and keep the peace - and that is all.

— Leonard Read

There could be no greater error than to conclude that statism caused prosperity.

— Leonard Read

Socialism takes and redistributes wealth, but it is utterly incapable of creating wealth.

— Leonard Read

The solution to this problem [welfare-statism] must take a positive form: the restoration of a faith in what free men can accomplish.

— Leonard Read

Socialistic practices are now so ingrained in our thinking, so customary, so much a part of our mores, that we take them…

— Leonard Read

The advancement of freedom is not a matter of who wields political power over creative actions; rather, it depends upon the disassembling…

— Leonard Read

In market terms, one is entitled to what others will offer in willing exchange. That is all!

— Leonard Read

There is no moral distinction between petty thievery and 'from each according to ability, to each according to need.'

— Leonard Read

No one has more than scratched the surface when it comes to understanding and explaining the miracle of the market.

— Leonard Read

Insecurity must follow the transfer of responsibility from self to others, particularly when transferred to arbitrary and capricious government. Genuine security is…

— Leonard Read

The Constitution was definitely and specifically designed to hobble all people who are so foolish as to think themselves capable of leading…

— Leonard Read

There is really nothing that can be done except by an individual. Only individuals can learn. Only individuals can think creatively. Only…

— Leonard Read

The more complex our economy, the more we should rely on the miraculous, self-adapting processes of men acting freely. No mind of…

— Leonard Read

Coercion is as much the tool of the welfare state as it is of communism. The programs and edicts of both are…

— Leonard Read

If we remove the hope of profit as a means to alleviate misfortune - poverty, illness, misery, disaster - we shall increase…

— Leonard Read

If the bureaucracy is not checked, it will tend to build, in the name of peace, a defense against every conceivable contingency…

— Leonard Read