Best 728 quotes in «libertarian quotes» category

The vigorous man industriously striving for the improvement of his condition acts neither more nor less than the lethargic man who sluggishly takes things as they come. For to do nothing and to be idle are also action, they too determine the course of events.

They told me if I voted for Goldwater, he would get us into a war in Vietnam. Well, I voted for Goldwater and that's what happened.

They've been taught by too many that this war was necessary when it isn't.

'Tis true that governments cannot be supported without great charge, and it is fit everyone who enjoys a share of protection should pay out of his estate his proportion of the maintenance of it.

Those who trade liberty for security have neither.

Those who attack the rationale of the game, and not the players, are its most formidable adversaries.

Thou shall not steal, even by majority vote.

To be governed ... is to be watched, inspected, directed, indoctrinated, numbered, estimated, regulated, commanded, controlled, law-driven, preached at, spied upon, censured, checked, valued, enrolled - by creatures who have neither the right, nor the wisdom, nor the virtue to do so.

To entrust the government with the power of determining the education which our children receive is entrusting our servant with the power to be our master.

To change masters is not to be free.

To demonize state authoritarianism while ignoring identical albeit contract-consecrated subservient arrangements in the large-scale corporations which control the world economy is fetishism at its worst.

To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves: such a prohibition ought to fill them with disdain.

Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true.

To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.

To tax the larger incomes at a higher percentage than the smaller, is to lay a tax on industry and economy; to impose a penalty on people for having worked harder and saved more than their neighbors.

Truth, in its struggles for recognition, passes through four distinct stages. First, we say it is damnable, dangerous, disorderly, and will surely disrupt society. Second, we declare it is heretical, infidelic and contrary to the Bible. Third, we say it is really a matter of no importance either one way or the other. Fourth, we aver that we have always upheld it and believed it.

Trying to be a socialist and a libertarian is obviously a very difficult balancing act, which nobody has pulled off too successfully in this century.

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

War is organized murder, and nothing else.

War is just one more big government program.

War is the Health of the State.

We are not punished for our sins, but by them.

We do many things at the federal level that would be considered dishonest and illegal if done in the private sector.

We cannot restore traditional American freedom unless we limit the government's power to tax.

We find many things to which the prohibition of them constitutes the only temptation.

What is the free market? Well, the free market, [we're told] is really a terrible, inhuman kind of arrangement, because it treats people like commodities. But how does the government treat people? Like garbage-worse than garbage. Not like commodities, but like nothing. We libertarians understand that we are not humane, we are not compassionate. It's the leftists and the liberals, they're the ones who are human and compassionate, but you'd better not get in their way.

We like to imagine that in history, truth will prevail through sheer persuasive power. Sadly, this is not the case. Truth needs champions.

Well, I'm a libertarian conservative, so I believe in limited government/maximum individual freedom.

What...can the government do to help the poor? The only answer is the libertarian answer: Get out of the way.

We tried many times before to speed on the social revolution in Spain; attempted to stir up the feelings of the people and to raise the banner of Libertarian Communism.

What I would like to vote for is a candidate that is socially liberal, a fiscal conservative, broadly libertarian with a small l but sensible and pragmatic and with a chance of winning. Thats more or less the empty set.

What we should have fought for was representation without taxation.

What's the best thing you can do for your writing? Construct a boring life.

What pays under capitalism is satisfying the common man, the customer. The more people you satisfy, the better for you.

When democratic governments create economic calamity, free markets get the blame.

Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.

Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.

When freedom is outlawed, only outlaws will be free.

Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.

When I'm asked where libertarians fit on the left-right spectrum, I say we don't. We're above the line.

When politicians say "I'm in politics," it may or may not be possible to trust them, but when they say, "I'm in public service," you know you should flee.

When taxes are too high, people go hungry.

When there is money in your hand and not in your heart, it will not harm you even if it is a lot; and when it is in your heart, it will harm you even if there is none in your hands.

When they kept you out it was because you were black; when they let you in, it is because you are black. That's progress?

Where men cannot freely convey their thoughts to one another, no other liberty is secure.

When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both.

With the development of industrial capitalism, a new and unanticipated system of injustice, it is libertarian socialism that has preserved and extended the radical humanist message of the Enlightenment and the classical liberal ideals that were perverted into an ideology to sustain the emerging social order.

Whoever prefers life to death, happiness to suffering, well-being to misery must defend without compromise private ownership in the means of production.

You cannot adopt politics as a profession and remain honest.

Words summarize the American philosophy of life: Live and let live; Let's make a deal. 8 words summarize American foreign policy: We're better than you; Do it our way.