States Quotes by Leonard Read

Once an activity has been socialized, it is impossible to point out, by concrete example, how men in a free market could better conduct…

— Leonard Read

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

— Leonard Read

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

— 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

The libertarian can have no truck with 'left' or 'right' because he regrets any form of authoritarianism - the use of police force to…

— Leonard Read

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

— Leonard Read

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

— Leonard Read

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

— Leonard Read

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

— Leonard Read

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

— Leonard Read

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

— Leonard Read

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

— Leonard Read

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

— 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 a year…

— Leonard Read

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

— Leonard Read