Patriotism has its roots deep in the instincts and the affections. Love of country is the expansion of dutiful love.

Patriotism has its roots deep in the instincts and the affections. Love of country is the expansion of dutiful love.

We should...be able to see that our interest would be best served not by asking the state to promulgate our read more

We should...be able to see that our interest would be best served not by asking the state to promulgate our values but by forbidding the state to promulgate any values at all. If the state can espouse some value that we love, it can, with equal justice, espouse others we do not love.

A democratic despotism is like a theocracy: it assumes its own correctness.

A democratic despotism is like a theocracy: it assumes its own correctness.

Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.

Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.

An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with read more

An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. - Beyond the Horizon, 1942.

Freedom means freedom from forces and circumstances which would turn man into a thing, which would impose on man the read more

Freedom means freedom from forces and circumstances which would turn man into a thing, which would impose on man the passivity and predictability of matter. By this test, absolute power is the manifestation most inimical to human uniqueness. Absolute power wants to turn people into malleable clay.

...a man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes.

...a man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes.

The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.

The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.

The conception that government should be guided by majority opinion makes sense only if that opinion is independent of government. read more

The conception that government should be guided by majority opinion makes sense only if that opinion is independent of government. The ideal of democracy rests on the belief that the view which will direct government emerges from an independent and spontaneous process. It requires, therefore, the existence of a large sphere independent of majority control in which the opinions of the individuals are formed.