"For the present I should like merely to understand how it happens that so many men, so many villages, so many cities, so many nations, sometimes suffer under a single tyrant who has no other power than the power they give him; who is able to harm them only to the extent to which they have the willingness to bear with him; who could do them absolutely no injury unless they preferred to put up with him rather than contradict him."

— de La Boétie, Étienne event 1576

menu_book Discourse on Voluntary Servitude

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"He who thus domineers over you has only two eyes, only two hands, only one body, no more than is possessed by the least man among the infinite numbers dwelling in your cities; he has indeed nothing more than the power that you confer upon him to destroy you. From where has he acquired enough eyes to spy upon you, if you do not provide them yourselves?"

— de La Boétie, Étienne event 1576

menu_book Discourse on Voluntary Servitude

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"Each privileged caste aims at the attainment of new privileges and at the preservation of old ones."

— von Mises, Ludwig event 1945

menu_book The Clash of Group Interests and Other Essays

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"Social power is the power over nature, the living standards achieved by men in mutual exchange. State power is the coercive and parasitic seizure of this production: a draining of the fruits of society for the benefit of nonproductive, actually antiproductive, rulers."

— Rothbard, Murray event 1974

menu_book Anatomy of the State

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"The State is that organization in society which attempts to maintain a monopoly of the use of force and violence in a given territorial area; in particular, it is the only organization in society that obtains its revenue not by voluntary contribution or payment for services rendered but by coercion."

— Rothbard, Murray event 1974

menu_book Anatomy of the State

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"I studied the Koran a great deal, mainly because of our position vis-à-vis the Muslim population of Algeria and throughout the Near East. I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large, there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Mohammed."

— Tocqueville, Alexis de

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"Mohammed brought down from heaven and put into the Koran not only religious doctrines but political maxims, criminal and civil laws, and scientific theories."

— Tocqueville, Alexis de

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auto_stories Books

A Vindication of Natural Society

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Burke's first published work, an anonymous satire of Lord Bolingbroke's style that pushes rationalist arguments against organized religion to their...

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The Clash of Group Interests and Other Essays

person von Mises, Ludwig event 1945

In this 1945 essay collection, Mises rebuts the Marxist claim that class conflict is inherent to the market order: voluntary exchange harmonizes in...

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Discourse on Voluntary Servitude

person de La Boétie, Étienne event 1576

Written around 1549 by the young French magistrate Étienne de La Boétie and first published posthumously in 1576, this founding text of libertarian...

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