There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
...the statement, "The purpose of the law is to cause justice to reign," is not a rigorously accurate statement. It ought to… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion.… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
But we assure the socialists that we repudiate only forced organization, not natural organization. We repudiate the forms of association that are… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
It is not true that the legislator has absolute power over our persons and property, since they pre-exist, and his work is… — 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
Treat all economic questions from the viewpoint of the consumer, for the interests of the consumer are the interests of the human… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
It is indeed a singular thing that people wish to pass laws to nullify the disagreeable consequences that the law of responsibility… — 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
If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
This question of legal plunder must be settled once and for all, and there are only three ways to settle it: (1)… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
We cannot doubt that self-interest is the mainspring of human nature. It must be clearly understood that this word is used here… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every… — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
If you wish to prosper, let your customer prosper. When people have learned this lesson, everyone will seek his individual welfare in… — Frederic 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
