Frederic Bastiat Quotes

Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all . . . . It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain

The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.

It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.

There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a more alarming situation.

Which countries contain the most peaceful, the most moral, and the happiest people? Those people are found in the countries where the law least interferes with private affairs; where the government is least felt; where the individual has the greatest scope, and free opinion the greatest influence; where the administrative powers are fewest and simplest; where taxes are lightest and most nearly equal

Each of us has a natural right, from God, to defend his person, his liberty, and his property.

If goods don’t cross borders, armies will.

Competition is merely the absence of oppression.

Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.

The law commit legal plunder by violating liberty and property.

By virtue of exchange, one man’s prosperity is beneficial to all others.

Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. Thus, when plunder is organized by law for the profit of those who make the law, all the plundered classes try somehow to enter, by peaceful or revolutionary means, into the making of laws. According to their degree of enlightenment, these plundered classes may propose one of two entirely different purposes when they attempt to attain political power: Either they may wish to stop lawful plunder, or they may wish to share in it.