Liberty Quotes

"What a government of limited powers needs, at the beginning and forever, is some means of satisfying the people that it has taken all steps humanly possible to stay within its powers. That is the condition of its legitimacy, and its legitimacy, in the long run, is the condition of its life." -Charles L. Black, Jr. Source: The People And The Court, 52 (1960).
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Charles.Black,.Quote.D361

"I join others who throughout history have recognized that an individual in this country has a protected right, within the confines of the criminal law, to guard his or her home or place of business from unlawful intrusions. ... Surely nothing could be more fundamental to the “concept of ordered liberty” than the basic right of an individual, within the confines of the criminal law, to protect his home and family from unlawful and dangerous intrusions." -Circuit Judge Coffey Source: Quilici v. Village of Morton Grove, 695 F.2d 261, 272, 278 (1982) (dissent) cert. denied 464 U.S. 863 (1983).
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Coffey.Quote.D527

"The ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but by the disappearance of the groups that have adhered to the 'wrong' beliefs." -Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), Nobel Laureate of Economic Sciences 1974
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Friedrich.August.von.Hayek.Quote.BE99

Liberty Quotes

"Welfare mostly subsidizes people in poverty, helping few escape from it. In their hearts, most people who are poor would like to be rich, or at least self-sustaining, but this president never talks about how they might achieve that goal. Instead, he criticizes those who made the right choices and now enjoy the fruits of their labor. Rather than use successful people as examples for the poor to follow, the president seeks to punish the rich with higher taxes and more regulations on their businesses." -Cal Thomas Columnist 2011
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Cal.Thomas.Quote.DC01

"It is precisely this clinging to victimhood as a means of demonstrating one’s virtue and advancing one’s well-being that has led us into a society in which welfare and quotas are “civil rights,” government handouts are “entitlements,” and payment to girls having babies out of wedlock are “compassionate,” while hard-working, ambitious people are “greedy,” punishment of crime is “oppression,” and an independent thinker who stands for courage and self-reliance is dismissed as an “Uncle Tom.”" -J. Tucker Alford Source: Heroics, Letter to The American Spectator, P. 72, February, 1996.
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/J..Tucker.Alford.Quote.D203

"Capitalism and communism stand at opposite poles. Their essential difference is this: The communist seeing the rich man and his fine home says, “No man should have so much.” The capitalist seeing the same thing says, “All men should have as much.” " -Phelps Adams (1903-1991) Chief Washington correspondent for The New York Sun (1928-50), adminstrative vice president for United States Steel (1950-67)
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Phelps.Adams.Quote.D157

Liberty Quotes

"Over the 20th century, the federal government has assumed a vast and unprecedented set of powers. Not only has the exercise of those powers upset the balance between federal and state governments; run roughshod over individuals, families, and firms; and reduced economic opportunity for all; but most of what the federal government does today -- to put the point as plainly and candidly as possible -- is illegitimate because done without explicit constitutional authority. The time has come to start returning power to the states and the people, to relimit federal power in our fundamental law, to restore constitutional government." -Roger Pilon Vice President for Legal Affairs for the Cato Institute Source: Restoring Constitutional Government, Cato's Letter #9, p. 1, published by the Cato Institute (1995).
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Roger.Pilon.Quote.9C1F

Liberty Quotes

"Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen." -Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) Source: Thus Spoke Zarathustra http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Friedrich.Nietzsche.Quote.8E64

"Contrary to the Marxists, the Nazis did not advocate public ownership of the means of production. They did demand that the government oversee and run the nation's economy. The issue of legal ownership, they explained, is secondary; what counts is the issue of control. Private citizens, therefore, may continue to hold titles to property -- so long as the state reserves to itself the unqualified right to regulate the use of their property." -Leonard Peikoff (1933- ) Source: The Ominous Parallels http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Leonard.Peikoff.Quote.8A07

"[I]f we won’t choose to pay the price of liberty, then by default we shall suffer the cost of servitude -- whether it be the iron chains of a tyrannical oligarchy or the regulatory chains of unelected, faceless bureaucrats. When we witness our neighbors abused by tyrants, will we skulk away and hope we’re not next? Or will we stand by them and challenge -- as freedom-loving Americans—the tyranny of lawless leaders." -Phil Trieb Source: The New American, p. 39 April 29, 1996. http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Phil.Trieb.Quote.AD4C

Liberty Quotes

"There is simply no escaping the fact that the fate of the Constitution is in our hands -- as voters, representatives, justices. If we allow ourselves to abuse the tradition of higher lawmaking, the very idea that the Constitution can be viewed as the culminating expression of a mobilized citizenry will disintegrate. After all, the American Republic is no more eternal than the Roman -- and it will come to an end when American citizens betray their Constitution’s fundamental ideals and aspirations so thoroughly that existing institutions merely parody the public meanings they formerly conveyed" -Bruce Ackerman (1943-) American constitutional law scholar, Sterling Professor at Yale Law School Source: We The People: Foundations, p.291 (1991) http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Bruce.Ackerman.Quote.F765

"Our federal government, which was intended to operate as a very limited constitutional republic, has instead become a virtually socialist leviathan that redistributes trillions of dollars. We can hardly be surprised when countless special interests fight for the money. The only true solution to the campaign money problem is a return to a proper constitutional government that does not control the economy. Big government and big campaign money go hand-in-hand."-Dr. Ron Paul (1935-) American physician, US Congressman (R-TX), US Presidential candidate Source: Why Is There So Much Money in Politics?, February 4, 2002 http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Ron.Paul.Quote.4211

"If I give you a forty five percent chance at lethal injection, a fifty percent chance at the electric chair, and a five percent chance for escape which are you going to vote for? The electric chair, because you're likely to win?" -Michael Badnarik (1954- ) American software engineer, political figure, and former radio talk show host http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Michael.Badnarik.Quote.2B2B