The only thing to fear is fear itself.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
(32nd President of the United States, 1882-1945)
Category Archives: Quotations Freedom
What is the proper role of government in a free society? To …
What is the proper role of government in a free society? To answer this question, we must first understand what is meant by ‘government’.Government is the use of force. To govern means to control. The use of force is implicit in the definition of control. Otherwise, it would be ‘influence’ rather than control. Even the good things that governments do involve the use of force somewhere, somehow. Some times government uses force directly to control behavior. Other times, government uses money taken by force to fund activities which would otherwise not involve the use of force.Understanding that government is the use of force, the question then becomes ‘What is the proper use of force in a free society?’. Joseph Knight
Properly understood, private property – whether it is in the form of land, …
Properly understood, private property – whether it is in the form of land, wealth, possessions, or ideas – is an extension of the person. It guarantees his freedom to act, to express his will, and to exercise his rights under an equitable system of civil justice. Joseph Broadus
Professor of Law, George Mason University, 1997
Well married a person has wings, poorly married shackles. Henry Ward Beecher …
Well married a person has wings, poorly married shackles.
Henry Ward Beecher
New York is listed as the second most expensive city in the …
New York is listed as the second most expensive city in the United States to live in, a mere one point under San Francisco. Rudimentary common sense argues against attracting chronic welfare mothers and children to a city in which life is tough, crime high, dope especially tempting as it is for those who seek escapism. It is surely Mayor Giuliani’s point a) that welfare can’t be unlimited, and b) that no compassionate purposes are served in attracting the indigent to a city where unemployment is higher than the national average and the cost of living as unattractive as the winter weather. William F. Buckley Jr.
William F. Buckley Jr., National Review, June 12, 1995
Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that …
Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something wearing stripes with plaid comes easy. Albert Einstein
Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they …
Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run. Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910)
A silent majority and government by the people is incompatible. Tom Hayden …
A silent majority and government by the people is incompatible. Tom Hayden
Beware of the man of one book. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)…
Beware of the man of one book.
Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274)
A social system is a code of laws which men observe in …
A social system is a code of laws which men observe in order to live together. Such a code must have a basic principle, a starting point, or it cannot be devised. The starting point is the question: Is the power of society limited or unlimited?Individualism answers: The power of society is limited by the inalienable, individual rights of man. Society may only make such laws as do not violate these rights.Collectivism answers: The power of society is unlimited. Society may make any laws it wishes, and force them upon anyone in any manner it wishes. Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand, Textbook of Americanism, Ayn Rand, 1905-1982