Frederic Bastiat

It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.

It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.

The mind never fully accepts any convictions that it does not owe to its own efforts.

The mind never fully accepts any convictions that it does not owe to its own efforts.

The state is the great fiction by which everybody tries to live at the expense of everybody else.

The state is the great fiction by which everybody tries to live at the expense of everybody else.

We cannot but be astonished at the ease with which men resign themselves to ignorance about what is most important read more

We cannot but be astonished at the ease with which men resign themselves to ignorance about what is most important for them to know; and we may be certain that they are determined to remain invincibly ignorant if they once come to consider it as axiomatic that there are no absolute principles.

Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain- and since labor is pain in itself- it follows that men read more

Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain- and since labor is pain in itself- it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it.When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder.