Bastiat quotes
When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will. – Frederic Bastiat
The state is the grand fiction by which everyone endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else. – Frederic Bastiat
The plunder is more or less universal, and therefore the plunder is more or less universal. – Frederic Bastiat
The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! – Frederic Bastiat
Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. – Frederic Bastiat
We cannot escape the inevitable consequences of our own actions. – Frederic Bastiat
Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. – Frederic Bastiat
Justice, like liberty, requires inequality. – Frederic Bastiat
The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended. – Frederic Bastiat
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. – Frederic Bastiat
Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone. – Frederic Bastiat
When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it. – Frederic Bastiat
The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else. – Frederic Bastiat
Property, in its natural state, is an extension of your person. It is your labor, life, and liberty made tangible. – Frederic Bastiat
The law is the organization of the natural right of lawful defense. It is the substitution of a common force for individual forces. – Frederic Bastiat
Every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. – Frederic Bastiat
Government is a fiction that everyone attempts to live off of to the detriment of everyone else. – Frederic Bastiat
Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources. – Frederic Bastiat
The socialists believe in the lawfulness of human actions only to the extent that these actions have done away with personal freedom. – Frederic Bastiat
Nothing requires so much patience as the act of making money. – Frederic Bastiat
Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place. – Frederic Bastiat
Government is an illusion created by individuals who seek to live at the expense of others. – Frederic Bastiat
If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? – Frederic Bastiat
Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. – Frederic Bastiat
The only way to fix the problems caused by the government is to reduce its power and interference in people’s lives. – Frederic Bastiat
Law is justice. In this proposition, law is defined as the organization of the natural right of lawful defense. – Frederic Bastiat
This implies, of course, that each of us has a right to defend his person, his liberty, and his property. – Frederic Bastiat
Government intervention in the economy often leads to unintended consequences and distorts the price signals that guide productive activity. – Frederic Bastiat
The more the government does, the less the people do for themselves. – Frederic Bastiat
The government can only give to you what it has taken from someone else. – Frederic Bastiat
Man is neither good nor bad; he is free or he is not. – Frederic Bastiat
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master! – Frederic Bastiat
Government intervention in the economy often leads to unintended consequences and distortions in the market. – Frederic Bastiat
The law is the organization of the natural right of lawful defense. It is the substitution of a common force for individual forces. – Frederic Bastiat
When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it. – Frederic Bastiat
Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. – Frederic Bastiat
The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else. – Frederic Bastiat
Property is the fruit of labor. Property is desirable, is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may also become rich and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. – Frederic Bastiat
The law perverted! The law—and, in its wake, all the collective forces of the nation—the law, I say, not only diverted from its proper direction, but made to pursue one entirely contrary! The law becomes the instrument of every kind of greed! Instead of checking injustice, the law itself is guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish! – Frederic Bastiat
Before a job can be given to one man, it must be taken from another. – Frederic Bastiat
To plunder, or not to plunder, that is the choice governments often make. – Frederic Bastiat
Property is not the fruit of labor. It is the result of a long series of thefts and usurpations. – Frederic Bastiat
Government intervention often leads to unintended consequences and distortions in the market. – Frederic Bastiat
The function of government is to protect the rights of property and freedom, not to interfere with them. – Frederic Bastiat
If the natural tendencies of mankind are so wicked that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? – Frederic Bastiat
The most urgent necessity of our time is a government that has realized that it has better things to do than govern. – Frederic Bastiat
The government is in the business of taking from some to give to others. – Frederic Bastiat
Plunder is more or less universal, and therefore, plunder is more or less universal. – Frederic Bastiat
Government reduces liberty for some in order to provide benefits for others. – Frederic Bastiat
When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law. – Frederic Bastiat