List of Frederic Bastiat Quotes

As Proof Of This Statement, Consider This Question: Have The People Ever Been Known To Rise Against The Court Of Appeals, Or Mob A Justice Of The Peace, In Order To Get Higher Wages, Free Credit, Tools Of Production, Favorable Tariffs, Or Government-created Jobs? Everyone Knows Perfectly Well That Such Matters Are Not Within The Jurisdiction Of The Court Of Appeals Or A Justice Of The Peace. And If Government Were Limited To Its Proper Functions, Everyone Would Soon Learn That These Matters Are Not Within The Jurisdiction Of The Law Itself.

[to Learn] Is To Harness Nature; To Spare Man All That Is Most Physical, Backbreaking, And Brutish In The Work Of Production; To Make Mind Master Over Matter.

Law Is Justice. In This Proposition A Simple And Enduring Government Can Be Conceived. And I Defy Anyone To Say How Even The Thought Of Revolution, Of Insurrection, Of The Slightest Uprising Could Arise Against A Government Whose Organized Force Was Confined Only To Suppressing Injustice.

Let Us First Of All Frugality In Government-peace And Freedom We Will Have As A Bonus.

The Creation Of New Capital Always... Releases... Labor. Its Actual Effect [though] Is Not To Make Jobs Scarce, But To Free Men's Labor For Other Jobs.

In An Economy, An Act, A Habit, An Institution, Or A Law, Gives Birth Not Only To An Effect, But To A Series Of Effects. Of These Effects, The First Only Is Immediate; It Manifests Itself Simultaneously With Its Cause - It Is Seen. The Others Unfold In Succession - They Are Not Seen. Now This Difference Is Enormous, For It Is Often True That When The Immediate Consequence Is Favorable, The Ultimate Consequences Are Fatal, And The Converse.

Man Acquires Wealth In Proportion As He Puts His Labor To Better Account.

We Hold From God The Gift Which Includes All Others. This Gift Is Life - Physical, Intellectual, And Moral Life.

Now Since Man Is Naturally Inclined To Avoid Pain - And Since Labor Is Pain In Itself - It Follows That Men Will Resort To Plunder Whenever Plunder Is Easier Than Work. History Shows This Quite Clearly. And Under These Conditions, Neither Religion Nor Morality Can Stop It. When, Then, Does Plunder Stop? It Stops When It Becomes More Painful And More Dangerous Than Labor. It Is Evident, Then, That The Proper Purpose Of Law Is To Use The Power Of Its Collective Force To Stop This Fatal Tendency To Plunder Instead Of To Work. All The Measures Of The Law Should Protect Property And Punish Plunder.

In War, The Stronger Overcomes The Weaker. In Business, The Stronger Imparts Strength To The Weaker.

Law Cannot Organize Labor And Industry Without Organizing Injustice.

No Legal Plunder: This Is The Principle Of Justice, Peace, Order, Stability, Harmony, And Logic. Until The Day Of My Death, I Shall Proclaim This Principle With All The Force Of My Lungs (which Alas! Is All Too Inadequate).