Life, faculties, production-in other words, individuality, liberty, property-this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, th… - Frédéric Bastiat

Hacer reinar la justicia está tan en la naturaleza de la ley, que ley y justicia, es todo uno en el espíritu de la gente. Todos tenemos una fuerte inclinación a considerar lo legal como legítimo, hasta tal punto que son muchos los que falsamente dan por sentado que toda justicia emana de la ley. Basta pues que la ley ordene y consagre la expoliación, para que ésta parezca justa y sagrada para muchas conciencias. La esclavitud, la restricción, el monopolio, encuentran defensores no solamente entre los que de ello aprovechan, sino aún entre los que por ello sufren.

In the department of economy, an act, a habit, an institution, a law, gives birth not only to an effect, but to a series of effects. Of these effects, the first only is immediate; it manifests itself simultaneously with its cause — it is seen. The others unfold in succession — they are not seen: it is well for us, if they are foreseen. Between a good and a bad economist this constitutes the whole difference: the one takes account only of the visible effect; the other takes account of both the effects which are seen and those which it is necessary to foresee. Now this difference is enormous, for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favourable, the ultimate consequences are fatal, and the converse. Hence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good, which will be followed by a great evil to come, while the true economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil.

"You say: "There are persons who lack education" and you turn to the law. But the law is not, in itself, a torch of learning which shines its light abroad. The law extends over a society where some persons have knowledge and others do not; where some citizens need to learn, and others can teach. In this matter of education, the law has only two alternatives: It can permit this transaction of teaching-and-learning to operate freely and without the use of force, or it can force human wills in this matter by taking from some of them enough to pay the teachers who are appointed by government to instruct others, without charge. But in the second case, the law commits legal plunder by violating liberty and property."