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Between a good and a bad economist this constitutes the whole difference: the one takes account only of the visible effect; the other takes account of both the effects which are seen and those which it is necessary to foresee.

— Frédéric Bastiat

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More quotes by Frédéric Bastiat

The State is the great fiction through which everyone endeavours to live at the expense of everyone else.

The State in Journal des débats (1848)

When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.

Economic Sophisms (1845)

This is done now; we desire that it be done better.

Justice and Fraternity (1848)

The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.

Do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?

The Law (1850)

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Attribution

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