Quotessence
Home / Authors / Frederic Bastiat
Frederic Bastiat

Frederic Bastiat Quotes

Economist

Filter quotes by topic

AllLibertyLawPlunderEconomicsIfsLibertarianPropertyEconomicGovernmentMenPersonsPoliticalDoeLaborPoliticsStatesIndividualJusticePeopleEconomy

Famous Frederic Bastiat Quotes

“Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain - and since labor is pain in itself - it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it. When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.”

MenDoeShowsPainConditionsDangerousMoralityEasierLaborPainfulResortsPlunder
Book:The Law
Create image

“All you have to do, is to see whether the law takes from some what belongs to them in order to give it to others to whom it does not belong. We must see whether the law performs, for the profit of one citizen and to the detriment of others, an act which that citizen could not perform himself without being guilty of a crime. Repeal such a law without delay. ... [I]f you don't take care, what begins by being an exception tends to become general, to multiply itself, and to develop into a veritable system.”

GivingDoeCareLawOrderCrimeCitizensProfitTake CareGuiltyExceptionDelay
Author:Frederic Bastiat
Create image

“Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain - and since labor is pain in itself - it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it. When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor. It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder.”

MenShouldDoeUseShowsPainLawPurposeForceHistoryConditionsDangerousMoralityEasierProtectLaborPropertyPainfulTendenciesCollectivesEvidentResortsPlunder
Author:Frederic Bastiat
Create image

“But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.”

IfsGivingPersonsDoeGovernmentLawLibertyEconomicCrimeCitizensBenefitsEconomicsLibertarianExpensesFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyProperty RightsWelfare StatePlunderEconomic FreedomLaw CourtsLegal Rights
Book:The Law
Create image

“But we assure the socialists that we repudiate only forced organization, not natural organization. We repudiate the forms of association that are forced upon us, not free association. We repudiate forced fraternity, not true fraternity. We repudiate the artificial unity that does nothing more than deprive persons of individual responsibility. We do not repudiate the natural unity of mankind under Providence.”

PersonsDoeFormIndividualNaturalResponsibilityLibertyEconomicMankindEconomicsOrganizationUnityAssociationArtificialProvidenceFraternityIndividual Responsibility
Author:Frederic Bastiat
Create image

“Who then would not like to see these benefits flow upon the world from the law, as from an inexhaustible source? But is it possible? Whence does the State draw those resources that it is urged to dispense by way of benefits to individuals? Is it not from the individuals themselves? How, then, can these resources be increased by passing through the hands of a parasitic and voracious intermediary?”

WorldWayDoeStatesPhilosophyHandsLawPoliticalIndividualSourceBenefitsDrawsResourcesEconomicsFlowPassingPassingsPassing Through
Author:Frederic Bastiat
Create image

“No society can exist if respect for the law does not to some extent prevail; but the surest way to have the laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality are in contradiction, the citizen finds himself in the cruel dilemma of either losing his moral sense or of losing respect for the law, two evils of which one is as great as the other, and between which it is difficult to choose.”

IfsWayDoeTwoLawEvilDifficultJusticeMoralCitizensMoralityLosingContradictionRespectableDilemmaTwo Evils
Author:Frederic Bastiat
Create image