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

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

— 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

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

— 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

A fact rarely suspected, let alone understood, is that businessmen are by no means the chief beneficiaries of the free market, private…

— Leonard Read

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

— 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

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

— Leonard Read

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

— 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

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

— 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

The welfare state destroys the market mechanisms - lessens free choice and willing exchange. Simultaneously creating unnatural specializations, it must, granted statism's…

— Leonard Read

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

— 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

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

Politicians, bureaucrats, editors, new commentators, 'economists' teachers,' and other word artists who denounce private enterprise and praise socialism are their own worst…

— 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

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

— Leonard Read