It is all in vain; you cannot give money to some members of the community but by taking it from others. If you desire to ruin the tax-payer, you may … - Frédéric Bastiat

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Engraved portrait of Frédéric Bastiat, facing left

It is all in vain; you cannot give money to some members of the community but by taking it from others. If you desire to ruin the tax-payer, you may do so. But at least do not banter him by saying: “In order to compensate your losses, I take from you again as much as I have taken from you already.

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About Frédéric Bastiat

Frédéric Bastiat (30 June 1801 – 24 December 1850) was an early free-market economist and classical liberal French author.

Biography information from Wikiquote · Portrait adapted from Wikimedia Commons, Émile Desmaisons. Lithograph by Auguste-Hilaire Léveillé. (Public domain / CC0)

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Claude Frédéric Bastiat Frederic Bastiat

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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.

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in the social sciences authorities are rarely acknowledged. As each individual daily acts upon his own notions whether right or wrong, of morals, hygiene, and economy; of politics, whether reasonable or absurd, each one thinks he has a right to prattle, comment, decide, and dictate in these matters.

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