“Which countries contain the most peaceful, the most moral, and the happiest people? Those people are found in the countries where the law least interferes with private affairs; where the government is least felt; where the individual has the greatest scope, and free opinion the greatest influence; where the administrative powers are fewest and simplest; where taxes are lightest and most nearly equal” PeopleCountryGovernmentLawFoundIndividualFeltMoralOpinionInfluenceTaxesEqualAffairPeacefulInterfereSimplestScopeAdministrativeFree Opinion Book:The Law Source: The Law
“It is easy to understand why the law is used by the legislator to destroy in varying degrees among the rest of the people, their personal independence by slavery, their liberty by oppression, and their property by plunder. This is done for the benefit of the person who makes the law, and in proportion to the power that he holds.” PeoplePersonsDoneLawUsedEasyLibertyDegreesBenefitsIndependenceSlaveryPropertyOppressionProportionLegislatorsPlunderPersonal Independence Author:Frederic Bastiat
“As proof of this statement, consider this question: Have the people ever been known to rise against the Court of Appeals, or mob a Justice of the Peace, in order to get higher wages, free credit, tools of production, favorable tariffs, or government-created jobs? Everyone knows perfectly well that such matters are not within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals or a Justice of the Peace. And if government were limited to its proper functions, everyone would soon learn that these matters are not within the jurisdiction of the law itself.” PeopleIfsKnowsWellsMatterGovernmentJobsLawOrderJusticeKnownHigherToolsFunctionCourtProductionsCreditProofStatementsAppealsWagesGetting HighJurisdictionTariffsRise Against Author:Frederic Bastiat
“People are beginning to realize that the apparatus of government is costly. But what they do not know is that the burden falls inevitably on them.” PeopleKnowsGovernmentFallRealizingBurden Author:Frederic Bastiat
“If you wish to prosper, let your customer prosper. When people have learned this lesson, everyone will seek his individual welfare in the general welfare. Then jealousies between man and man, city and city, province and province, nation and nation, will no longer trouble the world.” PeopleIfsMenWorldIndividualNationsWishCitiesLibertyTroubleEconomicLessonsEconomicsCustomersWelfareProvincesGeneral Welfare Author:Frederic Bastiat
“If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?” PeopleIfsBelieveHumansMadeNaturalRaceLibertyEconomicMankindSafeEconomicsLibertarianGoodTendenciesAgentsHuman RaceBelongingPermitClayLegislatorsOrganizer Author:Frederic Bastiat
“It is indeed a singular thing that people wish to pass laws to nullify the disagreeable consequences that the law of responsibility entails. Will they never realize that they do not eliminate these consequences but merely pass them along to other people? The result is one injustice the more and one moral the less.” PeopleLawWishRealizingResultsResponsibilityLibertyMoralEconomicConsequenceInjusticeLibertarianLibertarianismDisagreeable Author:Frederic Bastiat
“There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a more alarming situation.” PeopleThinkingLosesSituationLibertyImagineEconomicEconomicsLibertarianLibertarianismImmoralityPlunder Author:Frederic Bastiat
“The people who, during the election, were so wise, so moral, so perfect, now have no tendencies whatever; or if they have any, they are tendencies that lead downward to degradation. . . . If people are as incapable, as immoral, and as ignorant as the politicians indicate, then why is the right of these same people to vote defended with such passionate insistence?” PeopleIfsPerfectMoralWisePoliticianVoteElectionPassionateIgnorantTendenciesIncapableImmoralDegradationInsistence Author:Frederic Bastiat
“The state tends to expand in proportion to its means of existence and to live beyond its means, and these are, in the last analysis, nothing but the substance of the people. Woe to the people that cannot limit the sphere of action of the state! Freedom, private enterprise, wealth, happiness, independence, personal dignity, all vanish.” PeopleMeanStatesActionLastsWealthExistenceLimitsDignityIndependenceSubstanceAnalysisProportionEnterpriseVotingSpheresWoePrivate EnterprisePersonal Dignity Author:Frederic Bastiat
“If socialists mean that under extraordinary circumstances, for urgent cases, the State should set aside some resources to assist certain unfortunate people, to help them adjust to changing conditions, we will, of course, agree. This is done now; we desire that it be done better. There is however, a point on this road that must not be passed; it is the point where governmental foresight would step in to replace individual foresight and thus destroy it.” PeopleIfsShouldMeanStatesDoneHelpingDesireCertainCoursesIndividualStepsCasesConditionsCircumstancesResourcesAgreeExtraordinaryUnfortunateUrgentForesight Author:Frederic Bastiat
