Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

I cannot consent that my mortal body shall be laid in a repository prepared for an Emperor or a King my republican feelings and principles forbid it the simplicity of our system of government forbids...

Above all we should not forget that government is an evil, a usurpation upon the private judgement and individual conscience of mankind.

The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power.

People are so docile right now. It is almost as if good government means when the politicians lie to us for our own good, for the public good, and bad government is when politicians lie for their own...

The independence of the economic sphere was a tenet of faith with Liberalism.

The new republic should be based on diversity, respect and equal rights for all.

The surest way to prevent seditions... is to take away the matter of them.

It is a confession of the weakness of our own faith in the righteousness of our cause when we attempt to suppress by law those who do not agree with us. Alfred E. Smith, governor of New York after WWI

Democracy is a poor system

The entire Nazi war machine was only possible because of past, present and future violations of the non aggression principle {achievable only through government}.

Conservative should tend to resist the argument that our particular crisis is a more-than-normal one, that our particular moment is a more-than-Madisonian one. Conservatism is a healthy political...

One of the {many} problems with government is not that power corrupts or even that it is magnetic to corruptible people; rather, it is that we have been conditioned to tolerate corruption in power,...

I always said a good despotism was the best form of government

To be sure, I am not speaking about Christian equality, whose real name is equity; but about this democratic and social equality, which is nothing but the canonization of envy and the chimera of...

Earthquake means destruction; dictator means destruction! In the case of earthquake, you need a strong building; in the case of dictator, you need an educated rational mind, because an irrational...

Democracy's fatal flaw: There are more dumb people than smart people. Welcome to the new Dark Ages!

Before the mid-20th century, when American libertarians entangled themselves in conservative coalitions against the New Deal and Soviet Communism, "free market" thinkers largely saw themselves as...

Failure of government programs prompts more determined effort, while the loss of liberty is ignored or rationalized away... whether it is the war on poverty, drugs, terrorism... or the current Hitler...

A city which belongs to just one man is no true city

War is too important to be left to the generals

From this arises the following question: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other, but because they are...

To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required - not...

I am firmly convinced that we must never judge political movements by their aims, no matter how loudly proclaimed or how sincerely upheld, but only by the means they use to realize these aims.

Throughout his life Hayek wanted to affirm his identity with the classic liberal tradition, believing that the true cause of the crises leading to two world wars was the steady increase in the power...

Generally it must be stated that realpolitik has been better at dividing than at ruling. Take it as a whole since Kissinger called on the Shah in 1972, and see what the harvest has been.

What matters is not how affluent a country is but how unequal it is.

Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.

Once any tyranny becomes accepted as ordinary, according to Veronica, its victory is assured.

Avowed preference for an elite based on merit was misconstrued by enemies into a secret adoration of aristocracy.