politics quotes from influential philosophers, authors and people
"Most of us are politically in the middle. Don’t let the far left or far right convince you otherwise."
287
"In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."
379
"A civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into revolt neither has nor deserves the prospect of a lasting existence."
552
"One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."
630
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
641
"If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize."
681
"The right to free speech is more important than the content of the speech."
695
"I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it."
696
"Dare to think for yourself."
697
"Beware of the words 'internal security,' for they are the eternal cry of the oppressor."
698
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
704
"In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another."
705
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero."
723
"The more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it gets the appearance of wisdom."
727
"They don’t give you the news for free becuase they want you to be informed. They give you the news because they want you to watch it so they can tell you what to think."
847
"Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law."
856
"The moral justification of capitalism is man’s right to exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself."
857
"Man—every man—is an end in himself."
858
"The only proper purpose of a government is to protect man’s rights."
859
"A 'right'…means freedom from physical compulsion, coercion or interference by other men."
860
"Rights impose no obligations on [neighbors] except of a negative kind: to abstain from violating his rights."
861
"The right to property…does not mean that others must provide him with property."
862
"The right to property…is not a guarantee that a man will earn any property, but only a guarantee that he will own it if he earns it."
863
"The right to life is the source of all rights—and the right to property is their only implementation. Without property rights, no other rights are possible."
864
"The collective cannot decide what is to be the purpose of a man’s existence nor prescribe his choice of happiness."
865
"Man holds…rights, not from the Collective nor for the Collective, but against the Collective…man’s protection against all other men."
866
"Any alleged 'right' of one man, which necessitates the violation of the rights of another, is not and cannot be a right."
867
"If some men are entitled by right to the products of the work of others, it means that those others are deprived of rights."
868
"America’s abundance was created not by public sacrifices to 'the common good,' but by the productive genius of free men."
869
"Since only an individual man can possess rights…'individual rights' is a redundancy. But…“collective rights” is a contradiction in terms."
870
"Since the only proper function of a government is to protect man’s rights, it cannot claim title to his life in exchange for that protection."
871
"An individualist…says: 'I will not run anyone’s life—nor let anyone run mine. I will not rule nor be ruled. I will not be a master nor a slave.'"
872
"No one’s rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others."
873
"Freedom…comes down to a single question: do you consider it moral to treat men as sacrificial animals and to rule them by physical force?"
874
"Freedom, in a political context, means freedom from government coercion. It does not mean freedom from the landlord, or freedom from the employer, or freedom from the laws of nature which do not provide men with automatic prosperity."
875
"In a capitalist society, all human relationships are voluntary. Men are free to cooperate or not, to deal with one another or not, as their own individual judgments, convictions, and interests dictate."
876
"A society that robs an individual of the product of his effort…is…but a mob held together by institutionalized gang-rule."
877
"It is the institution of private property that protects and implements the right to disagree."
878
"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."
879
"Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions."
947
"Revolt is the right of the people."
949
"Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent."
959
"I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery."
996
"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."
997
"Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they."
1009
"Every man having been born free and master of himself, no one else may under any pretext whatever subject him without his consent. To assert that the son of a slave is born a slave is to assert that he is not born a man."
1010
"I have never thought, for my part, that man's freedom consists in his being able to do whatever he wills, but that he should not, by any human power, be forced to do what is against his will."
1012
"As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State "What does it matter to me?" the State may be given up for lost."
1017
"In any case, frequent punishments are a sign of weakness or slackness in the government. There is no man so bad that he cannot be made good for something. No man should be put to death, even as an example, if he can be left to live without danger to society."
1018
"Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like."
1021
"The word ‘slavery’ and ‘right’ are contradictory, they cancel each other out. Whether as between one man and another, or between one man and a whole people, it would always be absurd to say: "I hereby make a covenant with you which is wholly at your expense and wholly to my advantage; I will respect it so long as I please and you shall respect it as long as I wish."
1024
"Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being."
1025
"MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they."
1026
"Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic."
1040
"A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad."
1042
"Each generation doubtless feels called upon to reform the world. Mine knows that it will not reform it, but its task is perhaps even greater. It consists in preventing the world from destroying itself."
1050
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."
1056
"I believe that a scientist looking at non-scientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy."
1192