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Economics Quotes

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Economics Quotes

“The difference between [socialism and fascism] is superficial and purely formal, but it is significant psychologically: it brings the authoritarian nature of a planned economy crudely into the open. The main characteristic of socialism (and of communism) is public ownership of the means of production, and, therefore, the abolition of private property. The right to property is the right of use and disposal. Under fascism, men retain the semblance or pretense of private property, but the government holds total power over its use and disposal.”

“[A] private property regime makes people responsible for their own actions in the realm of material goods. Such a system therefore ensures that people experience the consequences of their own acts. Property sets up fences, but it also surrounds us with mirrors, reflecting back upon us the consequences of our own behavior.”

People Action Materials Behavior Consequence Economics Responsible Mirrors Property Realms Goods Surround Regimes Fence Reflecting Private Property Reflecting Back

Author:Tom Bethell

“Pollution and overuse of resources stem directly from the failure of government to defend private property. If property rights were to be defended adequately, we would find that here, as in other areas of our economy and society, private enterprise and modern technology would come not as a curse to mankind but as its salvation.”

“The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”

Source: The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations

“If "Thou shalt not covet," and "Thou shalt not steal," were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.”

Source: The Political Writings of John Adams

“A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.”

Book:Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way

Source: Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way

“The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.”

May Philosophy Political Politics Theory Economics Philosophical Property Sentences Communism Private Property Abolish One Sentence

Author:Karl Marx

“As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce.”

Men Country Natural Land Produce Demand Economics Property Reap Private Property Property Rights Landlord Economic Inequality Real Property

Book:An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. With notes, and an additional vol., by D. Buchanan

Source: An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. With notes, and an additional vol., by D. Buchanan

“Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”

“The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not.”

Important Liberty Economics Property Libertarian Private Property Property Rights Road To Serfdom

Author:Friedrich August von Hayek

“The foundation of any and every civilization, including our own, is private ownership of the means of production. Whoever wishes to criticize modern civilization, therefore, begins with private property.”

Mean Wish Liberty Economic Modern Civilization Economics Foundation Property Including Productions Criticize Ownership Private Property Modern Civilization

Book:The free and prosperous commonwealth: an exposition of the ideas of classical liberalism

Source: The free and prosperous commonwealth: an exposition of the ideas of classical liberalism

“It is true that the welfare-statists are not socialists, that they never advocated or intended the socialization of private property, that they want to 'preserve' private property-with government control of its use and disposal. But that is the fundamental characteristic of fascism.”

Want Use Government Liberty Economic Economics Fundamentals Property Preserves Welfare Characteristics Fascism Private Property Socialization

Book:Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

Source: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

“The true test of one's commitment to liberty and private property rights doesn't come when we permit people to be free to do those voluntary things with which we agree. The true test comes when we permit people to be free to do those voluntary things with which we disagree.”

People Liberty Rights Economic Commitment Economics Tests Agree Property Permit Disagree Private Property Property Rights

Book:More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well

Source: More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well

“Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else's resources as carefully as he uses his own. So if you want efficiency and effectiveness, if you want knowledge to be properly utilized, you have to do it through the means of private property.”

Ifs Want Mean Use Wisdom Decision Knowledge Economy Resources Economics Property Efficiency Free Market Effectiveness Private Property Market Economy Free Market Capitalism Economy And Economics

Author:Milton Friedman