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

“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
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

“Now, legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on.”

WaySchoolJobsNumbersPlansBenefitsLaborToolsEncouragementInfiniteProfitCommittedCreditProtectionLawyerReliefProgressiveMinimumWagesTaxationPublic SchoolMinimum WagePlunderSubsidiesTariffsProgressive Taxation
Book:The Law
Create image

“Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. Thus, when plunder is organized by law for the profit of those who make the law, all the plundered classes try somehow to enter, by peaceful or revolutionary means, into the making of laws. According to their degree of enlightenment, these plundered classes may propose one of two entirely different purposes when they attempt to attain political power: Either they may wish to stop lawful plunder, or they may wish to share in it.”

MenTryingMayMeanTwoDifferentLawPoliticalPurposeWishClassShareDegreesEnlightenmentVictimInjusticeProfitPeacefulRevolutionaryOrganizedRebelProposePolitical PowerPlunder
Book:The Law
Create image

“The mission of the law is not to oppress persons and plunder them of their property, even though the law may be acting in a philanthropic spirit. Its purpose is to protect persons and property.... If you exceed this proper limit -- if you attempt to make the law religious, fraternal, equalizing, philanthropic, industrial, or artistic -- you will then be lost in uncharted territory, in vagueness and uncertainty, in a forced utopia or, even worse, in a multitude of utopias, each striving to seize the law and impose it on you.”

IfsMayPersonsLawSpiritPurposeLostReligiousActingProtectLimitsPropertyStriveMissionsArtisticUncertaintyTerritoryMultitudesExceedUtopiaPhilanthropicPlunderUnchartedVaguenessFraternalUncharted Territory
Author:Frederic Bastiat
Create image

“In fact, if law were restricted to protecting all persons, all liberties, and all properties; if law were nothing more than the organized combination of the individual's right to self-defense; if law were the obstacle, the check, the punisher of all oppression and plunder - is it likely that we citizens would then argue much about the extent of the franchise?”

IfsPersonsSelfFactsLawIndividualLibertyCitizensPropertyObstaclesDefenseLibertarianArguingChecksOppressionCombinationOrganizedSelf DefensePlunderPunisher
Book:The Law
Create image

“Legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways; hence, there are an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, bonuses, subsidies, incentives, the progressive income tax, free education, the right to employment, the right to profit, the right to wages, the right to relief, the right to the tools of production, interest free credit, etc., etc. And it the aggregate of all these plans, in respect to what they have in common, legal plunder, that goes under the name of socialism.”

WayNamesInterestCommonNumbersPlansTaxesToolsInfiniteProfitCommittedProductionsCreditProtectionIncomeSocialismEmploymentReliefEtcProgressiveWagesIncentivesIncome TaxBonusPlunderSubsidiesTariffsFree Education
Author:Frederic Bastiat
Create image