Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism - including, of course, legal despotism? — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
By virtue of exchange, one man's prosperity is beneficial to all others. — 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
What, then is law [government]? It is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense. — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into… — 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… — Frederic 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
The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended. — Frederic Bastiat Copy Share Image
When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his… — 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 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
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
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
In fact, if law were restricted to protecting all persons, all liberties, and all properties; if law were nothing more than the… — 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
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
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
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
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
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
I believe that my theory is correct; for whatever be the question upon which I am arguing, whether it be religious, philosophical,… — 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
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
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
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
“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
“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
“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
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
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
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
“I cannot possibly understand how fraternity can be legally enforced without liberty being legally destroyed...” — Frédéric 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
...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
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
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