Libertarian Quotes of the Week #1
We were posting a libertarian quote of the day at Facebook but the Politburo there decided our pages violated community standards—apparently those quotes from Gandhi, Voltaire, Ayn Rand and Martin Luther King don’t sit well with Facebook. We are thus forbidden from posting new quotes there. So once a week I’ll post quotes here instead. You’ll see what horrors they extol—things like equality of rights, free markets, freedom to think, reason, and so forth. It’s a veritable list of horrors to the Facebook gurus.
We shall also be accumulating all quotes into a volume, Speaking Freely: An Encyclopedia of Libertarian Quotes. Now a few caveats about this series.
We do not assert every individual quoted is libertarian. We merely argue that the quote itself reflects a libertarian sentiment, whether the speaker was aware of that of not. Some of the speakers or writers quoted had never heard the word libertarian. Indeed most people are libertarian on something, but that alone isn’t enough to warrant labeling them libertarian. We do not label anyone we quote, we merely present their quotes for your enjoyment. When the full volume is collected and printed you will have the option or ordering a copy.
Secondly, I believe these quotes, when taken as a whole present a complete presentation of the libertarian philosophy. Each quote is like a piece of glass in a stained-glass window, or a tile in a mosaic. When you step back and look at them in the wider context you see the whole image and it takes on new meaning, and in my opinion, it takes on a new beauty greater than the individual tiles. As such it is a good way for novices to imbibe libertarianism one sentiment at a time. It gives them time to think about the quote and reflect. Eventually the whole mosaic of ideas becomes apparent.
“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence, you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr. • 1929–1968
“Civilization, in fact, grows more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. Wars are no longer waged by the will of superior men, capable of judging dispassionately and intelligently the causes behind them and the effects flowing out of them. The are now begun by first throwing a mob into a panic; they are ended only when it has spent its ferine fury.” H.L. Mencken • 1880–1956
“You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom. You can only be free if I am free.” Clarence Darrow • 1857–1938
“In practice, faith in the bigger and better future is one of the most potent enemies to present liberty: for rulers feel themselves justified in imposing the most monstrous tyranny on their subjects for the sake of the wholly imaginary fruits which these tyrannies are expected (only an implicit faith in progress can say why) to bear some time, let us say, in the twenty-first or twenty-second century.” Aldous Huxley • 1894–1963
“Do not make the mistake of the ignorant who think that an individualist is a man who says: ‘“’I’ll do as I please at everybody else’s expense.‘”’ An individualist is a man who recognizes the inalienable individual rights of man — his own and those of others.” Ayn Rand • 1905–1982
“Freedom, individualism and being yourself so long as you don’t hurt another’s physical person or property; The true artist is a man who believes absolutely in himself, he is absolutely himself.” Oscar Wilde 1854–1900
“Sexuality, therefore, is synonymous with individuality. And it is individualities that hamper an institution’s agenda, eddies that constantly threaten the cohesiveness of an institution by challenging its authority and undermining the processes that require homogeneity and conformity so that the members are easier to assimilate and herd together (hence the use of the term ‘flock’).” Rita Banerji
“All the sacred rights of humanity are violated by insisting on blind obedience.”
Mary Wollstonecraft • 1759–1797
“Ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” James Baldwin •
1924–1987
“I deny the right of any man, of any number of men, of any church, of any State, to put a padlock on the lips — to make the tongue a convict. I passionately deny the right of the Herod of authority to kill the children of the brain.” Robert Ingersoll • 1833–1899
“The most important thing in this world is liberty. More important than food or clothes — more important than gold or houses or lands — more important than art or science — more important than all religions, is the liberty of man.” Robert Ingersoll • 1833–1899
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” Theodore Roosevelt • 1858–1919
“Authoritarians have a very strong need to be part of a collective, to have everyone else in the collective along with themselves. And it’s not just about themselves, it’s about their demands for the behaviour of others — they desire to use the authority of the state and coercion to bring everyone’s behavior into conformity with the collective norm.” Karen Stenner
“More and more, when faced with the world of men, the only reaction is one of individualism. Man alone is an end unto himself. Everything one tries to do for the common good ends in failure.” Albert Camus • 1913–1960
“The best things and best people rise out of their separateness; I’m against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise.” Robert Frost •1874–1963
“No society can possibly be built on a denial of individual freedom. It is contrary to very nature of man. Just as a man will not grow horns or a tail, so he will not exist as man if he has no mind of his own. In reality even those who do not believe in the liberty of the individual believe in their own.” Mahatma Gandhi • 1869–1948
“A moron is a moron, regardless of the number of geniuses who share his racial origin.” Ayn Rand • 1905–1982
I sincerely hope you didn’t find any quotes as disturbing as did the Facebook Politburo. Also follow our daily comments at Twitter. If you are looking for discounted libertarian books visit our Freeminds website.
SUPPORT THIS PAGE AT PATREON
Your support to fund these columns is important, visit our page at Patreon.
Our only support for this work is your donations via Patreon — even $1 a month adds up. Please consider signing up to make a monthly donation, but you can also make one time donations.
