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

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

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.

All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.

All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.

"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our read more

"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men." -Samuel Adams

I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war on liberty, and that the read more

I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war on liberty, and that the democratic government is at least as bad as any of the other forms

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 ...

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.

Ask not what the government can do for you. Ask why it doesn't.

Ask not what the government can do for you. Ask why it doesn't.

Only a government that is rich and safe can afford to be a democracy, for democracy is the most expensive read more

Only a government that is rich and safe can afford to be a democracy, for democracy is the most expensive and nefarious kind of government ever heard of on earth.