Frédéric Bastiat Quotes

When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.

the decisive proof that the people are dupes is when the priest is rich and powerful.

But there is also another tendency that is common among people. When they can, they wish to live and prosper at the expense of others.

Another effect of this deplorable perversion of the law is, that it gives to human passions and to political struggles, and, in general, to politics, properly so called, an exaggerated preponderance. I

The world is not sufficiently conscious of the influence exercised over it by Sophistry. When might ceases to be right, and the government of mere strength is dethroned, Sophistry transfers the empire to cunning and subtlety. It would be difficult to determine which of the two tyrannies is most injurious to mankind.

Society is the total of the forced or voluntary services that men perform for each other; that is to say, of public services and private services.

the radical passiveness of mankind, — the omnipotence of the law, — the infallibility of the legislator: — this is the sacred symbol of the party which proclaims itself exclusively democratic.

Our adversaries consider, that an activity which is neither aided by supplies, nor regulated by Government, is an activity destroyed. We think just the contrary. Their faith is in the legislator, not in mankind; ours is in mankind, not in the legislator.

These classes, according to the degree of enlightenment at which they have arrived, may propose to themselves two very different ends, when they thus attempt the attainment of their political rights; either they may wish to put an end to lawful plunder, or they may desire to take part in it.

He himself says that the labor of the theatres is as fertile, as productive as any other (not more so); and this may be doubted; for the best proof that the latter is not so fertile as the former lies in this, that the other is to be called upon to assist it.

The academy is, perhaps unsurprisingly, full of people who think that they are smart enough to run the lives of others. They are not. Hence the subtitle of this volume: “What Your Professors Won’t Tell You.

You say There are persons who have no money, and you turn to the law. But the law is not a breast that fills itself with milk.

"Here are, however, a few extracts from Louis Blanc's book on the organization of labor: "In our plan, society receives its momentum from power." Now consider this: The impulse behind this momentum is to be supplied by the plan of Louis Blanc; his plan is to be forced upon society; the society referred to is the human race. Thus the human race is to receive its momentum from Louis Blanc."

Be responsible for ourselves. Look to the State for nothing beyond law and order. Count on it for no wealth, no enlightenment. No more holding it responsible for our faults, our negligence, our improvidence. Count only on ourselves for our subsistence, our physical, intellectual, and moral progress!

¡Ley pervertida! ¡Ley — y con ella, todas las fuerzas colectivas de la Nación — desviada de su objetivo legítimo y dirigida a un objetivo totalmente contrario! ¡Ley convertida en instrumento de todas las codicias, en lugar de frenar las codicias! ¡Ley hacedora de iniquidad, cuando su misión era castigar la iniquidad!