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Benjamin Tucker

Benjamin Tucker Quotes

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Benjamin Tucker was an American anarchist, writer, and editor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is known for his contributions to individualist anarchism, advocating for a stateless, anarchist society through education, cooperation, and voluntary exchange.

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All Liberty Anarchy States Government Men Authority May Anarchist Socialism Anarchism Force Individual Definitions Invaders Said Should Invasion Labor Mean Names

Famous Benjamin Tucker Quotes

“Anarchists are simply unterrified Jeffersonian Democrats.”

Democrat Anarchist

Book:State Socialism and Anarchism and Other Essays

Source: State Socialism and Anarchism and Other Essays

“The Anarchists are simply unterrified Jeffersonian Democrats. They believe that 'the best government is that which governs least,' and that which governs least is no government at all.”

Believe Government Democrat Anarchy Anarchist

Book:State Socialism and Anarchism and Other Essays

Source: State Socialism and Anarchism and Other Essays

“An Anarchist is anyone who denies the necessity and legitimacy of government; the question of his methods of attacking it is foreign to the definition.”

Government Method Definitions Deny Anarchy Attacking Anarchist Legitimacy

Author:Benjamin Tucker

“There are some troubles from which mankind can never escape .... have never claimed that liberty will bring perfection; they simply say that its results are vastly preferable to those that follow from authority .... As a choice of blessings, liberty is the greater; as a choice of evils, liberty is the smaller. Then liberty always says the Anarchist. No use of force except against the invader.”

Use Choices Evil Force Results Liberty Greater Trouble Mankind Blessing Authority Perfection Anarchy Anarchist Invaders Use Of Force

Author:Benjamin Tucker

“If the individual has a right to govern himself, all external government is tyranny. Hence the necessity of abolishing the State.”

Ifs States Government Individual Tyranny Anarchy Anarchist

Book:State Socialism and Anarchism and Other Essays

Source: State Socialism and Anarchism and Other Essays

“The Anarchists never have claimed that liberty will bring perfection; they simply say that its results are vastly preferable to those that follow authority.”

Results Liberty Authority Perfection Anarchist

Book:Instead of a Book

Source: Instead of a Book

“The Anarchists answer that the abolition of the State will leave in existence a defensive association, resting no longer on a compulsory but on a voluntary basis, which will restrain invaders by any means that may prove necessary.”

May Mean States Answers Existence Prove Bases Association Anarchist Abolition Compulsory Invaders

Book:Instead of a Book

Source: Instead of a Book

“In the matter of the maintenance and rearing of children the Anarchists would neither institute the communistic nursery which the State Socialists favor nor keep the communistic school system which now prevails.”

Children Matter States School Favors Anarchist Institute Maintenance Nursery School System

Book:Instead of a Book

Source: Instead of a Book

About the Author

Born: April 17, 1854
Died: June 22, 1939
Known for: Author
Quotes: 61

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Liberty Anarchy States Government Men Authority May Anarchist Socialism Anarchism Force Individual Definitions Invaders Said Should Invasion Labor Mean Names

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Books & Sources

Instead of a BookRelated source material

State Socialism and Anarchism and Other EssaysRelated source material

Individual liberty: selections from the writings of Benjamin R. TuckerRelated source material

LibertyRelated source material

A Blow at Trial by Jury: An Examination of the Special Jury Law Passed by the New York Legislature in 1896Related source material

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