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The libertarian phobia as to the state reflects and reproduces a profound misunderstanding of the operative forces which make for social control in the modern world. If — and this is a big “if,” especially where bourgeois libertarians are concerned — what you want is to maximize individual autonomy, then it is quite clear that the state is the least of the phenomena which stand in your way.

— Bob Black The Libertarian as Conservative (1984)

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More quotes by Bob Black

As for "decadence," that is an eminently bourgeois swear-word for people perceived to be having more fun than you are.

Anarchy after Leftism (1997)

What I really want to see is work turned into play.

The Abolition of Work (1985)

There is life after the left. And there is anarchy after anarchism. Post-leftist anarchists are striking off in many directions. Some may find the way — better yet, the ways — to a free future.

Anarchy after Leftism (1997)

Do you have ideas, or do ideas have you?

Preface to The Right To Be Greedy (1983)

No one can say what would result from unleashing the creative power stultified by work. Anything can happen.

The Abolition of Work (1985)

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The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

John Adams A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

When we see a great man desiring power instead of his real goal we soon recognize that he is sick, or more precisely that his attitude to his work is sick.

Martin Buber What is Man? (1938)

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

C. S. Lewis God in the Dock (1970)

Attribution

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