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I stand ready to negotiate, but I want no part of laws: I acknowledge none; I protest against every order with which some authority may feel pleased on the basis of some alleged necessity to over-rule my free will. Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of government.

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

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Justice

More quotes by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

All men in their hearts, I say, bear witness to these truths; they need only to be made to understand it.

What is Property? (1840)

All parties without exception, when they seek for power, are varieties of absolutism.

Philosophy at Work : A Constructive Approach to Philosophy (1960)

To name a thing is easy: the difficulty is to discern it before its appearance.

What is Property? (1840)

As man seeks justice in equality, so society seeks order in anarchy.

What is Property? (1840)

Talents is a creation of society rather than a gift of nature; it is an accumulated capital of which the recipient is only the guardian.

What is Property? (1840)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.