Taking the State wherever found, striking into its history at any point, one sees no way to differentiate the activities read more

Taking the State wherever found, striking into its history at any point, one sees no way to differentiate the activities of its founders, administrators and beneficiaries from those of a professional-criminal class.

I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.

I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.

...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty read more

...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty is said to be less. In other words, men are thought to be more under the control of extra-legal authorities, and to defer more to those around them, in pursuing even their lawful and innocent occupations, than in almost every other country.

All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small read more

All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.

No serious historian of politics would imagine that he had accounted for the protective tariff of the system of bounties read more

No serious historian of politics would imagine that he had accounted for the protective tariff of the system of bounties or subsidies, for the monetary and banking laws, for the state of law in regard to corporate privileges and immunities, for the actual status of property rights, for agricultural or for labor policies, until he had gone behind the general claims and the abstract justifications and had identified the specifically interested groups which promoted the specific law.

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.

...the differences between the conservative and the radical seem to spring mainly from their attitude toward the future. Fear of read more

...the differences between the conservative and the radical seem to spring mainly from their attitude toward the future. Fear of the future causes us to lean against and cling to the present, while faith in the future renders us receptive to change.

Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.

Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.

It is precisely those things which belong to "the people" which have historically been despoiled- wild creatures, the air, and read more

It is precisely those things which belong to "the people" which have historically been despoiled- wild creatures, the air, and waterways being notable examples. This goes to the heart of why property rights are socially important in the first place. Property rights mean self-interested monitors. No owned creatures are in danger of extinction. No owned forests are in danger of being leveled. No one kills the goose that lays the golden egg when it is his goose.