Classical liberalism Quote by Henry Steele Commager

A free society cherishes nonconformity. It knows from the non-conformist, from the eccentric, have come many of the great ideas.

— Henry Steele Commager

“How little one is justified in speaking in this connection of "optimism" and "pessimism" and how much the characterization of liberalism as "optimistic" aims…

— Ludwig von Mises

“It is illogical to say, as many etatists do, that liberalism is hostile to or hates the state, because it is opposed to the…

— Ludwig von Mises

“When, thirty-five years ago, I tried to give a summary of the ideas and principles of that social philosophy that was once known under…

— Ludwig von Mises

“I mean, contrary to the contemporary version of it, classical liberalism (which remember was pre-capitalist, and in fact, anti-capitalist) focused on the right of…

— Noam Chomsky

“The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable.”

— Frédéric Bastiat

“These ideas grew out of the Enlightenment; their roots are in Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality, Humboldt’s Limits of State Action, Kant’s insistence, in his…

— Noam Chomsky

Against what is stupid, nonsensical, erroneous, and evil, [classical] liberalism fights with the weapons of the mind, and not with brute force and repression.

— Ludwig von Mises

“The search for liberty is simply part of the greater search for a world where respect for the rule of law and human rights…

— Mario Vargas Llosa

... an essential feature of a decent society, and an almost defining feature of a democratic society, is relative equality of outcome - not…

— Noam Chomsky

“The free market system of capitalism enhances freedom in three ways. Traditionally freedom of exchange has been seen as a basic form of individual…

— Cudd/Holmstrom

“Despite Gentile’s disagreement with Marx about historical inevitability, he has at this point clearly broken with modern conservatism and classical liberalism and revealed himself…

— Dinesh D'Souza