Freedom Thinkers

Edward Coke

Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing less than reason. -- Edward Coke, First Institute Edward Coke Wikipedia Sir Edward Coke: English Lawyer and Parliamentarian FrankLaughter.Tripod.com Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke, vol I by Edward Coke Online Library of Liberty Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke, ...

Henry Grady Weaver

Most of the major ills of the world have been caused by well-meaning people who ignored the principle of individual freedom, except as applied to themselves, and who were obsessed with fanatical zeal to improve the lot of mankind-in-the-mass through some pet formula of their own. The harm done by ordinary criminals, murderers, gangsters, and thieves is negligible in ...

Patrick Henry

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined. -- Patrick Henry Patrick Henry Short Biography RedHill.org Patrick Henry's Choice by Ben Moreell Future of Freedom Foundation Patrick Henry by David Dieteman LewRockwell.com Patrick Henry: ...

Lord Acton

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. -- Lord Acton, The History of Freedom and Other Essays Lord Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (from 1834 to 1902) Acton Institute Lord Acton on Liberty and Government by Gary M. Galles Ludwig von Mises Institute The Acton-Lee Correspondence LewRockwell.com

Thomas M. Cooley

The right is general. It may be supposed from the phraseology of this provision that the right to keep and bear arms was only guaranteed to the militia; but this would be an interpretation not warranted by the intent. The militia, as has been explained elsewhere, consists of those persons who, under the laws, are liable ...

H.L. Mencken

Of government, at least in democratic states, it may be said briefly that it is an agency engaged wholesale, and as a matter of solemn duty, in the performance of acts which all self-respecting individuals refrain from as a matter of common decency. -- H.L. Mencken H.L. Mencken, Americas Wittiest Defender of Liberty by Jim Powell Foundation for Economic Education ...

Peter Thomas Bauer

Professor Mazrui regards income differences as a reflection of unjust privileges and exploitation. Poor individuals, groups, and societies are underprivileged and deprived. Like others who write in this vein he fails to ask how external forces, especially Western contacts, could possibly have caused the poverty of the poorest, most backward groups in Africa (pygmies, aborigines, desert people) when these ...

Francis Hutcheson

Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means. -- Francis Hutcheson, An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue in Two Treatises Francis Hutcheson, 1694-1746 Wikipedia Francis Hutcheson: Teacher of Adam Smith by Murray N. Rothbard MisesInstitute An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and ...

Daniel Webster

I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence ...

Friedrich von Wieser

Physical productivity exists where the amount of goods which form the gross return is greater than the amount of capital goods destroyed…. Value productivity exists where the value of the gross return is greater than the value of the capital consumed. -- Friedrich von Wieser, Natural Value Friedrich von Wieser encyclopedia.com The Austrian School and the ...

James Mill

A glut, as it is supposed in this doctrine, namely an excess of production in the aggregate, can take place only by a continued increase of production. Let us imagine that we have just come to the supposed point, when, the supply being full, any additional production will be so much of glut. The additional production takes place, and ...

Jean-Baptiste Say

It is worth while to remark, that a product is no sooner created, than it, from that instant, affords a market for other products to the full extent of its own value. When the producer has put the finishing hand to his product, he is most anxious to sell it immediately, lest its value should diminish in his hands. ...

Benjamin Franklin

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin Short Bio TheAmericanRevolution.org Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History by J.A. Leo Lamay Benjamin Franklin: The Man Who Invented the American Dream by Jim Powell Foundation for Economic Education

Auberon Herbert

Do we wish to make men juster in their daily intercourse with each other? We shall certainly not succeed by acting more unjustly in return, for however unjustly a man may use the indirect power that he possesses, his injustice will always be surpassed by those who violate the universal rights of men by applying for force directly. -- Auberon ...

Oskar Morgenstern

The great progress in every science came when, in the study of problems which were modest as compared with ultimate aims, methods were developed which could be extended further and further. -- John von Neumann & Oskar Morgenstern, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior Oskar Morgenstern, 1902-1976 History of Economic Thought Oskar Morgenstern, (1902-77) Library Economics and ...

Joseph Alois Schumpeter

There is little reason to believe that this socialism will mean the advent of the civilization of which orthodox socialists dream. It is much more likely to present fascist features. That would be a strange answer to Marxs prayer. But history sometimes indulges in jokes of questionable taste. -- Joseph Alois Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy Joseph ...

William Lloyd Garrison

I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to ...

John Elliot Cairnes

When Political Economy had nothing to recommend it to public notice but its own proper and intrinsic evidence, no man professed himself a political economist who had not conscientiously studied and mastered its elementary principles; and no one who acknowledged himself a political economist discussed an economic problem without constant reference to the recognised axioms of the science. But ...

Gordon Tullock

Characteristically, however, the overthrow of the dictator simply means that there will be another dictator. ... the policies they follow will probably not be radically different. If we look around the world, we quickly realize that these policies will not be radically different from those that would be followed by a democracy either. -- Gordon Tullock, Autocracy

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Nothing is more revolting than the majority; for it consists of few vigorous predecessors, of knaves who accommodate themselves, of weak people who assimilate themselves, and the mass that toddles after them without knowing in the least what it wants. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Wikipedia Goethe on National Greatness by Hans-Hermann Hoppe Ludwig von ...