25 quotes
One can be committed to conformity or one can be committed to truth, but not both.
Atheism: The Case Against God (1974)
The physical capacity to coerce others can never generate a moral obligation to obey the dictates of [government] power.
The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism (2013)
Taxes, then, are a necessary means for the maintenance of political power, so the laws, first and foremost, must enforce compulsory taxation.
The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism (2013)
Taxes forcibly transfer wealth from producers to legislators, who justify their expropriations under cover of law.
The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism (2013)
The Christian theologian will never find a contradiction between the propositions of faith and reason, because it is his job to interpret them out of existence.
Atheism: The Case Against God (1974)
Government cannot claim any jurisdiction over such rights, because inalienable rights, by their very nature, could never have been transferred to government in the first place.
The American Revolution and The Declaration of Independence (2017)
Those in government are especially susceptible to the corruption of power, because government is institutionalized coercion.
The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism (2013)
The significant contribution of empiricism was not the eradication of certainty, but the eradication of infallibility as a criterion of certainty.
Why Atheism? (2000)
Religion has had the disastrous effect of placing vitally important concepts, such as morality, happiness and love, in a supernatural realm inaccessible to man’s mind and knowledge.
Atheism: The Case Against God (1974)
Government should only protect individual; beyond that it should leave individuals free to cultivate themselves, and thereby generate spontaneous cultural order.
They found that they were no longer regarded as liberals per se but as old liberals – a qualification that had bed foisted upon them by self-proclaimed new liberals.
The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism (2013)
The Boston Tea Party has often been called a pivotal event that led to the American Revolution, but it would be more accurate to say that the British response was the true catalyst.
The American Revolution and The Declaration of Independence (2017)
Ironically perhaps, key elements in the Marxian criticism of differs little from a popular conservative complaint (though the same point is typically used for different purposes).
Individualism: A Reader (2015)
Intellectually, every man is an island unto himself; no man can assume the responsibility of thinking for another. The virtue of rationality thus entails intellectual independence and the willingness to assume responsibility for one’s beliefs, choices, and actions.
Atheism: The Case Against God (1974)
A willingness to engage in the give and take of argument displays a commitment to cognitive egalitarianism—the proposition that all people should be treated as intellectual equals, and that no individual can legitimately claim a privileged immunity from the burden of proof.
Why Atheism? (2000)
[G]overnment should only concern itself with matters of justice (i.e. the protection of rights) while leaving more tangential matters to the voluntary decisions and actions of individuals.
The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism (2013)
There can be no knowledge of what is good for man apart from knowledge of reality and human nature, and there is no manner in which this knowledge can be acquired except through reason. To advocate irrationality is to advocate that which is destructive to human life.
Atheism: The Case Against God (1974)
Reason is not one tool of thought among many, it is the entire toolbox. To advocate that reason be discarded in some circumstances is to advocate that thinking be discarded—which leaves one in the position of attempting to do a job after throwing away the required instrument.
Atheism: The Case Against God (1974)
The leap of faith is a strategic impasse that confronts every Christian in search of converts; and, as he sees the matter, there is no wrong way to become a Christian. It is the end that is important, not the means; it does not matter why you believe, so long as you believe. For the philosopher, in contrast, the paramount issue is the justification of belief, not the fact of belief itself.
Why Atheism? (2000)
As Herbert Spencer was to point out in the following century, feudal serfs were required to turn over one-third of their produce to their overlord. This means that any citizen who is required to pay a tax rate greater than one-third is worse off in this respect than the lowly serf.
The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism (2013)