I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our read more

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. read more

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to read more

In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.

Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its read more

Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its own existence?

Far more important to me is, that I should be loyal to what I regard as the law of my read more

Far more important to me is, that I should be loyal to what I regard as the law of my political life, which is this: a belief that that country is best governed, which is least governed ...

All government--indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every
virtue and every prudent act--is founded on compromise and
barter.

All government--indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every
virtue and every prudent act--is founded on compromise and
barter.

A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical read more

A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, read more

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.