Quotes About Society

And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works.

Legal plunder has two roots: one of them, as we have already seen, is in human greed; the other is in misconceived philanthropy.

Government is that great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.

Legal plunder has two roots: one of them, as we have already seen, is in human egotism; the other is in false philanthropy. Before

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.

In fact, it is not justice which has an existence of its own, it is injustice. The one results from the absence of the other. But

And because we do not ask so much at the hands of the law, because we only ask it for justice, it supposes that we reject fraternity, solidarity, organization, and association; and they brand us with the name of individualists. We

Classical conventionalism shows us everywhere, behind passive society, a hidden power, under the names of Law, or Legislator (or, by a mode of expression which refers to some person or persons of undisputed weight and authority, but not named), which moves, animates, enriches, and regenerates mankind. We

Thus men, according to Bossuet, derive nothing from themselves; patriotism, wealth, inventions, husbandry, science—all come to them by the operation of the laws, or by kings. All they have to do is to be passive.

legislators have almost always been ignorant of the object of society, which is to unite families by a common interest.

Society is the total of the forced or voluntary services that men perform for each other; that is to say, of public services and private services.

If abnegation has indeed so many charms for you, why do you fail to practice it in private life? Society will be grateful to you, for someone, at least, will reap the fruit; but to desire to impose it upon mankind as a principle is the very height of absurdity, for the abnegation of all is the sacrifice of all, which is evil erected into a theory.

Ninguna sociedad puede existir, si no impera en algún grado el respeto a las leyes; pero es el caso que lo que da más seguridad para que sean respetadas las leyes, es que sean respetables. Cuando la ley y la moral se encuentran en contradicción, el ciudadano se encuentra en la cruel disyuntiva de perder la noción de lo moral o de perder el respeto a la ley, dos desgracias tan grandes una como la otra y entre las cuales es difícil elegir.

What, then, is law? As I have said elsewhere, it is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defence.

The law has been perverted through the influence of two very different causes—bare egotism and false philanthropy.

If you suggest a doubt as to the morality of these institutions, it is said directly—"You are a dangerous innovator, a utopian, a theorist, a despiser of the laws; you would shake the basis upon which society rests." If

It is worth our while to pay a little attention to the extent of genius required by these legislators, that we may see how, by confounding all the virtues, they showed their wisdom to the world.

the decisive proof that the people are dupes is when the priest is rich and powerful.

La gran desventura de Francia es la preferencia de la igualdad por encima de la libertad. Alexis de Tocqueville. LA LEY LA Ley ¡pervertida!

quando se tenta fazer a lei religiosa, fraternal, igualitária, filantrópica, industrial, literária, artística, logo se atinge o infinito, o incerto, o desconhecido, a utopia imposta ou, o que é pior, uma infinidade de utopias em luta para apossar-se da lei e se impor. Pois a fraternidade e a filantropia, ao contrário da justiça, não têm limites fixos. Onde pararão? Onde parará a lei?

The Law by Frédéric Bastiat

When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.

You shall not succeed, I predict, so long as legal plunder continues to be the main business of the legislature. It is illogical -- in fact, absurd -- to assume otherwise.

Here are, however, a few extracts from Louis Blanc's book on the organization of labor: "In our plan, society receives its momentum from power." Now consider this: The impulse behind this momentum is to be supplied by the plan of Louis Blanc; his plan is to be forced upon society; the society referred to is the human race. Thus the human race is to receive its momentum from Louis Blanc.