Freedom Thinkers

Clarence Manion

Government does not create liberty; on the contrary, government is the one persisting danger of human liberty.... This role of government as the enemy of liberty was well understood by the Founding Fathers of the Republic. They wished government to have sufficient power to 'restrain men from injuring one another.' But beyond that, they tied it down securely with ...

John Marshall

The power to tax involves the power to destroy. -- John Marshall, McCulloch v. Maryland John Marshall Library of Virginia John Marshall Preservation Virginia John Marshall (1755-1835) From Revolution to Reconstruction Marbury v. Madison John Marshall Northern Virginia Community College Chief Justice John Marshall's Legacy LandmarkCases.org

Carl Menger

Money is not an invention of the state. It is not the product of a legislative act. The sanction of political authority is not necessary for its existence. -- Carl Menger Carl Menger: The Founder of the Austrian School by Joseph T. Salerno Ludwig von Mises Institute Carl Menger: Ivory Tower Iconoclast by Thomas W. Hazlett Liberty Haven Book Review: Principles ...

John Stuart Mill

... the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or to forbear because it will be better for him to do so, ...

John Milton

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. -- John Milton, Areopagitica John Milton Short Biography Pegasos John Milton (1608-1674) Acton Institute The Story of Milton 2020Site Paradise Lost by John Milton Online Library of Liberty Paradise Regained by John Milton Online Library of Liberty Areopagitica by John Milton Library ...

Ludwig von Mises

The market economy is the social system of the division of labor under private ownership of the means of production. Everybody acts on his own behalf; but everybodys actions aim at the satisfaction of other people's needs as well as at the satisfaction of his own. Everybody in acting serves his fellow citizens. Everybody, on the other hand, is ...

Gustave de Molinari

True economists are generally agreed, on the one hand, that the government should restrict itself to guaranteeing the security of its citizens, and on the other hand, that the freedom of labor and of trade should otherwise be whole and absolute. -- Gustave de Molinari, The Production of Security Gustave de Molinari, 1819-1912 History of Economic Thought Gustave ...

Felix Morley

The advocate of an aggressive foreign policy is therefore likely to be an advocate of centralization. For he cannot consistently urge that the Administration be untrammeled in its conduct of foreign relations yet subject to strict Constitutional checks and balances in its control over domestic activities. Conversely, the advocate of a limited foreign policy cannot consistently urge that the ...

Robert Morris

I confess I never lost hopes of reconciliation untill I saw this Answer which in my opinion breaths nothing but Death & Destruction. Every body see it in the same light and it will bring us all to one way of thinking, so that you may soon expect to hear of New Governments in every Colony and in Conclusion ...

Robert Nozick

The illegitimate use of a state by economic interests for their own ends is based upon a preexisting illegitimate power of the state to enrich some persons at the expense of others. Eliminate that illegitimate power of giving differential economic benefits and you eliminate or drastically restrict the motive for wanting political influence. -- Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and ...

Edmund A. Opitz

No one can read our Constitution without concluding that the people who wrote it wanted their government severely limited; the words 'no' and 'not' employed in restraint of government power occur 24 times in the first seven articles of the Constitution and 22 more times in the Bill of Rights. -- Edmund A. Opitz A Tribute to Edmund A. ...

Thomas Paine

It has been thought a considerable advance towards establishing the principles of Freedom, to say, that government is a compact between those who govern and those that are governed: but this cannot be true, because it is putting the effect before the cause; for as man must have existed before governments existed, there necessarily was a time when governments ...

Isabel Paterson

The philanthropist, the politician, and the pimp are inevitably found in alliance because they have the same motives, they seek the same ends, to exist for, through, and by others. And the good people cannot be exonerated for supporting them. Neither can it be believed that the good people are wholly unaware of what actually happens. But when the ...

Ron Paul

The most important element of a free society, where individual rights are held in the highest esteem, is the rejection of the initiation of violence. All initiation of force is a violation of someone else's rights, whether initiated by an individual or the state, for the benefit of an individual or group of individuals, even if it's supposed to ...

Paul L. Poirot

In the United States, at least, the Federal welfare state is primarily a development of the twentieth century. Governmental welfare measures, if any, before World War I were handled largely at the local level; there had been no substantial use of Federal funds to buy votes, no reason for states to modify their voting laws and practices to gain ...

Francois Quesnay

Laissez faire, laissez passer (Let it be, let it pass). -- Franois Quesnay, Familiar Quotations Franois Quesnay, 1694-1774 History of Economic Thought Franois Quesnay Short Bio School of Cooperative Individualism Franois Quesnay (1694-1774) Library of Economics and Liberty Franois Quesnay's Tableau conomique McMaster University Quesnay Bibliography McMaster University

Ayn Rand

Rights are conditions of existence required by man's nature for his proper survival. If man is to live on earth, it is right for him to use his mind, it is right to act on his own free judgment, it is right to work for his values and to keep the product of his work. If life on earth ...

David Ricardo

To produce the wine in Portugal, might require only the labour of 80 men for one year, and to produce the cloth in the same country, might require the labour of 90 men for the same time. It would therefore be advantageous for her to export wine in exchange for cloth. This exchange might even take place, notwithstanding that ...

Lionel C. Robbins

Economics is the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses -- Lionel C. Robbins Lord Lionel C. Robbins, 1898-1984 History of Economic Thought Lord Robbins London School of Economics Lionel Robbins (1898-1984) Library of Economics and Liberty Remarks Upon Certain Aspects of the Theory of Costs by Lionel Robbins Library of ...

Wilhelm Ropke

While the last resort of the competitive economy is the bailiff, the ultimate sanction of the planned economy is the hangman. -- Wilhelm Rpke Wilhelm Rpke (1899-1966): Humane Economist by Shawn Ritenour Ludwig von Mises Institute Wilhelm Roepke's Wisdom The Greco Report Book Review: Wilhelm Rpke: Swiss Localist, Global Economist, by John Zmirak by Richard M. Ebeling Future of Freedom Foundation