The main political problem is how to prevent the police power from becoming tyrannical. This is the meaning of all read more

The main political problem is how to prevent the police power from becoming tyrannical. This is the meaning of all the struggles for liberty.

Free institutions are not the property of any majority. They do not confer upon majorities unlimited powers. The rights of read more

Free institutions are not the property of any majority. They do not confer upon majorities unlimited powers. The rights of the majority are limited rights. They are limited not only by the constitutional guarantees but by the moral principle implied in those guarantees. That principle is that men may not use the facilities of liberty to impair them. No man may invoke a right in order to destroy it.

Liberty is an opportunity for doing good, but this is only so when it is also an opportunity for doing read more

Liberty is an opportunity for doing good, but this is only so when it is also an opportunity for doing wrong.

The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and read more

The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and is its concern for freedom from the state. The history of the West, from the age of the Greek polis down to the present-day resistance to socialism, is essentially the history of the fight for liberty against the encroachments of the officeholders.

The humblest citizen of all the land when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all read more

The humblest citizen of all the land when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of Error.

My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government -- he promised Dad he'd go straight.

My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government -- he promised Dad he'd go straight.

To those who feel that their values are the values, the less controlled systems necessarily present a spectacle of "chaos," read more

To those who feel that their values are the values, the less controlled systems necessarily present a spectacle of "chaos," simply because such systems respond to a diversity of values. The more successfully such systems respond to diversity, the more "chaos" there will be, by definition, according to the standards of any specific set of values- other than diversity or freedom as values. Looked at another way, the more self-righteous observers there are, the more chaos (and "waste") will be seen.

In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.

In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.

The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of read more

The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.