Absolute power turns its possessors not into a God but an anti-God. For God turned clay into men, while the read more

Absolute power turns its possessors not into a God but an anti-God. For God turned clay into men, while the absolute despot turns men into clay.

...whenever it is necessary that one of several conflicting opinions should prevail and when one would have to be made read more

...whenever it is necessary that one of several conflicting opinions should prevail and when one would have to be made to prevail by force if need be, it is less wasteful to determine which has the stronger support by counting numbers than by fighting. Democracy is the only method of peaceful change that man has yet been discovered.

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold read more

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.

In America, it is indispensable that every well wisher of true liberty should understand that acts of tyranny can only read more

In America, it is indispensable that every well wisher of true liberty should understand that acts of tyranny can only proceed from the publick. The publick, then, is to be watched, in this country, as, in other countries kings and aristocrats are to be watched.

Political history is largely an account of mass violence and of the expenditure of vast resources to cope with mythical read more

Political history is largely an account of mass violence and of the expenditure of vast resources to cope with mythical fears and hopes.

Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of read more

Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority.

Government is beating into submission, imprisoning, and killing...The authority of man-made law is entirely due to weapons of the constables read more

Government is beating into submission, imprisoning, and killing...The authority of man-made law is entirely due to weapons of the constables who enforce obedience to its provisions.

Governments need armies to protect them against their enslaved and oppressed subjects.

Governments need armies to protect them against their enslaved and oppressed subjects.

What a free society offers to the individual is much more than what he would be able to do if read more

What a free society offers to the individual is much more than what he would be able to do if only he were free.