“Rousseau.—Although this politician, the paramount authority of the Democrats, makes the social edifice rest upon the general will, no one has so completely admitted the hypothesis of the entire passiveness of human nature in the presence of the lawgiver:— "If” — Frédéric Bastiat Copy Share Image
“One of the strangest phenomena of our time, and one that will probably be a matter of astonishment to our decedents, is that doctrine which is founded upon this triple hypothesis: the radical passiveness of mankind, -the omnipotence of the… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else. — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image