Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.

Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.

It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their read more

It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, John Doe, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him.

The ballot is stronger than bullets. - Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy.

The ballot is stronger than bullets. - Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy.

Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend read more

Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force. What other virtue can there be in fifty-one percent except the brute fact that fifty-one is more than forty-nine? The rule of fifty-one per cent is a convenience, it is for certain matters a satisfactory political device, it is for others the lesser of two evils, and for others it is acceptable because we do not know any less troublesome method of obtaining a political decision. But it may easily become an absurd tyranny if we regard it worshipfully, as though it were more than a political device. We have lost all sense of its true meaning when we imagine that the opinion of fifty-one per cent is in some high fashion the true opinion of the whole hundred per cent, or indulge in the sophistry that the rule of a majority is based upon the ultimate equality of man.

Power tires only those who do not have it.

Power tires only those who do not have it.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

Those who lack the capacity to achieve much in an atmosphere of freedom will clamor for power.

Those who lack the capacity to achieve much in an atmosphere of freedom will clamor for power.

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

The legacy of Democrats and Republicans approaches: Libertarianism by bankruptcy.

The legacy of Democrats and Republicans approaches: Libertarianism by bankruptcy.