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From Quotes by Frederic Bastiat
- Each of us has a natural right, from God, to defend his person, his liberty, and his property.
- We cannot doubt that self-interest is the mainspring of human nature. It must be clearly understood that this word is used here to designate a…
- The sort of dependence that results from exchange, i.e., from commercial transactions, is a reciprocal dependence. We cannot be dependent upon a foreigner without his…
- ...the statement, "The purpose of the law is to cause justice to reign," is not a rigorously accurate statement. It ought to be stated that…
- Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object…
- It is not true that the legislator has absolute power over our persons and property, since they pre-exist, and his work is only to secure…
- Who then would not like to see these benefits flow upon the world from the law, as from an inexhaustible source?... But is it possible?...…
- When under the pretext of fraternity, the legal code imposes mutual sacrifices on the citizens, human nature is not thereby abrogated. Everyone will then direct…
- Treat all economic questions from the viewpoint of the consumer, for the interests of the consumer are the interests of the human race.
- The law has been perverted, and the powers of the state have become perverted along with it. The law has not only been turned from…
- The real cost of the State is the prosperity we do not see, the jobs that don’t exist, the technologies to which we do not…
- They would be the shepherds over us, their sheep. Certainly such an arrangement presupposes that they are naturally superior to the rest of us. And…
- If philanthropy is not voluntary, it destroys liberty and justice. The law can give nothing that has not first been taken from its owner.
- As long as it is admitted that the law may be diverted from its true purpose--that it may violate property instead of protecting it--then everyone…
- But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives…
- Life, faculties, production-in other words, individuality, liberty, property-this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God…
- You compare the nation to a parched piece of land and the tax to a life-giving rain. So be it. But you should also ask…
- I believe that my theory is correct; for whatever be the question upon which I am arguing, whether it be religious, philosophical, political, or economical;…
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