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Murray Rothbard

Murray Rothbard Quotes

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Famous Murray Rothbard Quotes

“[W]hich category of crimes does the State pursue and punish most intensely? [T]hose against private citizens or those against itself? The gravest crimes in the State's lexicon are almost invariably not invasions of private person or property, but dangers to its own contentment, for example, treason, desertion of a soldier to the enemy, failure to register for the draft, subversion and subversive conspiracy, assassination of rulers and such economic crimes against the State as counterfeiting its money or evasion of its income tax.”

PersonsDoeStatesEnemyEconomicCrimeDangerExampleCitizensTaxesPropertySoldierIncomePursueContentmentCategoriesConspiracyRulersInvasionRegisterIncome TaxTreasonAssassinationSubversiveEvasionSubversionLexiconDesertion
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“Libertarians regard the state as the Supreme, the eternal, the best organized aggressor against the persons and property of the mass of the public. All states everywhere, whether democratic, dictatorial, or monarchical, whether red, white, blue or brown.”

PersonsStatesWhiteEternalMassRedRegardBluePropertyDemocraticLibertarianSupremeOrganizedBrownAggressorsAll State
Book:For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto
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“I define anarchist society as one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual. Anarchists oppose the State because it has its very being in such aggression, namely, the expropriation of private property through taxation, the coercive exclusion of other providers of defense service from its territory, and all of the other depredations and coercions that are built upon these twin foci of invasions of individual rights.”

PersonsStatesIndividualFocusRightsPossibilityBuiltPropertyDefenseTerritoryAnarchyAggressionTwinsTaxationInvasionCoercionAnarchistPrivate PropertyExclusionProvidersIndividual Rights
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“Once one concedes that a single world government is not necessary, then where does one logically stop at the permissibility of separate states? If Canada and the United States can be separate nations without being denounced as in a state of impermissible ‘anarchy’, why may not the South secede from the United States? New York State from the Union? New York City from the state? Why may not Manhattan secede? Each neighbourhood? Each block? Each house? Each person?”

IfsWorldMayPersonsDoeStatesGovernmentHouseNationsUnitedCitiesUnited StatesNew YorkUnionsSouthBlockCanadaNew York CityAnarchyManhattanWorld GovernmentNeighbourhoodsNew York StateCanada And The United States
Book:Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market, Scholar's Edition
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“No one may threaten or commit violence ('aggress') against another man's person or property. Violence may be employed only against the man who commits such violence; that is, only defensively against the aggressive violence of another. In short, no violence may be employed against a non-aggressor. Here is the fundamental rule from which can be deduced the entire corpus of libertarian theory.”

MenMayPersonsViolenceHe ManTheoryFundamentalsPropertyLibertarianCommitAggressiveEmployedAnother ManAggressorsCorpus
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“All of the services commonly thought to require the State-from the coining of money to police protection to the development of law in defense of the rights of person and property-can be and have been supplied far more efficiently and certainly more morally by private persons. The State is in no sense required by the nature of man; quite the contrary.”

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Author:Murray Rothbard
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“The libertarian sees the State as a giant gang of organized criminals, who live off the theft called "taxation" and use the proceeds to kill, enslave, and generally push people around. Therefore, any property in the hands of the State is in the hands of thieves, and should be liberated as quickly as possible. Any person or group who liberates such property, who confiscates or appropriates it from the State, is performing a virtuous act and a signal service to the cause of liberty.”

PeopleShouldPersonsStatesUseHandsCausesLibertyGroupsPropertyLibertarianCriminalsRevolutionaryPerformingGiantsOrganizedVirtuousThievesSignalsTaxationGangTheftLiberated
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“Human life is not some sort of race or game in which each person should start from an identical mark. It is an attempt by each man to be as happy as possible. And each person could not begin from the same point, for the world has not just come into being; it is diverse and infinitely varied in its parts. The mere fact that one individual is necessarily born in a different place from someone else immediately insures that his inherited opportunity cannot be the same as his neighbor's.”

MenWorldShouldHumansPersonsDifferentFactsLife IsOpportunityGamesIndividualBornRaceMarkMereEqualityNeighborHuman LifeDiverseIdenticalDifferent PlaceEgalitarianism
Author:Murray Rothbard
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