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Those in government are especially susceptible to the corruption of power, because government is institutionalized coercion.

— George H. Smith The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism (2013)

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More quotes by George H. Smith

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)

All George H. Smith quotes →

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Ill can he rule the great, that cannot reach the small.

Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene (1589)

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

James Madison

Bureaucracy and social harmony are inversely proportional to each other.

Leon Trotsky The Revolution Betrayed (1936)

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

John Adams

Attribution

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