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Quote by Albert J. Nock

“The superficial distinctions of Fascism, Bolshevism, Hitlerism, are the concern of journalists and publicists; the serious student sees in them only one root-idea of a complete conversion of social power into State power.”

Quote by Albert J. Nock

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Albert J. Nock
Albert J. Nock

Albert J. Nock was an American author known for his contributions to political philosophy and economics. Born on October 13, 1870, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he passed away on August 19, 1945. Nock's writing frequently criticized the welfare state and emphasized the importance of individual liberty and self-reliance. more

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“The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.”

MayMadeIdeasStatesIndividualSocialDifficultNaturalJusticeCommonRightsMoralityAdvantageIntentionAccessPrimariesGrantsGenesisNatural RightsAnti Social
Author:Albert J. Nock
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“It is unfortunately none too well understood that, just as the State has no money of its own, so it has no power of its own. All the power it has is what society gives it, plus what it confiscates from time to time on one pretext or another, there is no other source from which State power can be drawn. Therefore every assumption of State power, whether by gift or seizure leaves society with so much less power; there is never, nor can be, any strengthening of State power without a corresponding and roughly equivalent depletion of social power.”

GivingWellsStatesSocialSourceUnderstoodAssumptionPlusNo MoneyStrengtheningPretextCorrespondingSeizuresSocial Power
Author:Albert J. Nock
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“It is easy to prescribe improvement for others; it is easy to organize something, to institutionalize this or that, to pass laws, multiply bureaucratic agencies, form pressure groups, start revolutions, change forms of government, tinker at political theory. The fact that these expedients have been tried unsuccessfully in every conceivable combination for 6,000 years has not noticeably impaired a credulous unintelligent willingness to keep on trying them again and again.”

TryingYearsHas BeensFactsGovernmentFormLawPoliticalEasyGroupsTheoryRevolutionPressureImprovementCombinationAgencyWillingnessAgain And AgainOrganizeForms Of GovernmentUnintelligentPolitical TheoryPressure Groups
Author:Albert J. Nock
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