Quotes from John Hospers

The greater the hold of government upon the life of the individual citizen, the greater the risk of war.

By far the most numerous and most flagrant violations of personal liberty and individual rights are performed by governments. The major crimes throughout history, the ones executed on the largest scale, have been committed not by individuals or bands of individuals but by governments, as a deliberate policy of those governments, that is, by the official representatives of governments, acting in their official capacity.

If you want to be happy, be kind to others.

Do you want to have free medical care at the expense of other people, whether they wish to provide it or not? But this would require them to work longer for you whether they want to or not, and other men's lives are not yours to dispose of.

The tyranny of a majority can be just as cruel as the tyranny of a single dictator, depending on the degree of enlightenment or stupidity of the voting majority.

A fascist is anyone who, seeing a man working hard and earning money, says, He's getting more than we are, let's pass a law to take it away from him!

Beware: the Government Is Armed and Dangerous.

If each human being is to have liberty, he cannot also have the liberty to deprive others of their liberty.

Should an individual or a government use force at all, even in retaliation? Clearly yes; complete pacifism is self-defeating.

The nearest approach to a libertarian government was the government of the United States at the time of its inception.

A fascist is a student who, seeing the representatives of a chemical industry recruiting on campus, cries, Let's chase the bastard off! We have the right to free speech but he doesn't!

Democracy is essentially government by the majority, and a majority may be stupid, unenlightened, foolish, misled, and corrupt.

The only government tolerated by libertarians is one that exercises only retaliatory use of force on anyone who initiates the use of force against anyone else within its borders.

A fascist is anyone who, seeing a man working hard and earning money, says, He's getting more than we are, let's pass