Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d'etre to the imperfection of man and can read more

Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d'etre to the imperfection of man and can attain their end, the elimination of man's innate impulse to violence, only by recourse to violence, the very thing they are called upon to prevent.

If we would have civilization and the exertion indispensable to its success, we must have property; if we have property, read more

If we would have civilization and the exertion indispensable to its success, we must have property; if we have property, we must have its rights; if we have the rights of property, we must take those consequences of the rights of property which are inseparable from the rights themselves.

A family on the throne is an interesting idea. It brings down the pride of sovereignty to the level of read more

A family on the throne is an interesting idea. It brings down the pride of sovereignty to the level of petty life.

Justice, like liberty and coercion, is a concept which, for the sake of clarity, ought to be confined to the read more

Justice, like liberty and coercion, is a concept which, for the sake of clarity, ought to be confined to the deliberate treatment of men by other men.

Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and read more

Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god.

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.

I've never professed to be anything but an average student.

I've never professed to be anything but an average student.

...regrettable as it may seem to the idealist, the experience of history provides little warrant for the belief that real read more

...regrettable as it may seem to the idealist, the experience of history provides little warrant for the belief that real progress, and the freedom that makes progress possible, lies in unification. For where unification has been able to establish unity of ideas it has usually ended in uniformity, paralysing the growth of new ideas. And where the unification has merely brought about an artificial or imposed unity, its irksomeness has led through discord to disruption.Vitality springs from diversity- which makes for real progress so long as there is mutual toleration, based on the recognition that worse may come from an attempt to suppress differences than from acceptance of them. For this reason, the kind of peace that makes progress possible is best assured by the mutual checks created by a balance of forces- alike in the sphere of internal politics and of international relations.

Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues.

Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues.