Harry Browne
It isn't possible to give government just a little control over the economy and our lives. Once we cede that power to government, it uses the power to take more from us. That's why every year the government controls more of our lives.Collection: Government
Being a politician means never having to say you're sorry. You don't have to say, 'I never should have voted to subsidize that ridiculous Enron project in India.' ... After all, they're greedy businessmen and you're a selfless public servant.Collection: Sorry
The power of choice. You have it. But you forfeit it when you imagine that you can choose for others. You can't. But you can choose for yourself.Collection: Choices
Asset forfeiture is a mockery of the Bill of Rights. There is no presumption of innocence, no need to prove you guilty (or even charge you with a crime), no right to a jury trial, no right to confront your accuser, no right to a court-appointed attorney (even if the government has just stolen all your money), and no right to compensation for the property that's been taken.Collection: Taken
Security ... it's simply the recognition that changes will take place and the knowledge that you're willing to deal with whatever happens.Collection: Knowledge
You are where you are today because youve chosen to be there.Collection: Today
Profit is a reward for satisfying the desire of someone else.Collection: Morning
Government cripples you, then hands you a crutch and says, 'See, if it wasn't for us, you couldn't walk.'Collection: Government
For those looking for security, be forewarned that there's nothing more insecure than a political promise.Collection: Insecure
When you give politicians the power to do what you think is right you're automatically giving politicians the power to do what you think is wrong.Collection: Thinking
Government is a parasite-a cancer that by nature tries to spread deeper into society. Those who want to run others' lives won't give up and start minding their own business.Collection: Running
In almost all matters, the real question should be: why are we letting government handle this?Collection: Letting Go
The American heritage was one of individual liberty, personal responsibility and freedom from government ... Unfortunately ... that heritage has been lost. Americans no longer have the freedom to direct their own lives ... Today, it is the government that is free - free to do whatever it wants. There is no subject, no issue, no matter ... that is not subject to legislation.Collection: Responsibility
The bad consequences of a government program usually don't show up immediately. And the delay may be long enough to hide the connection between the program and its results. So government never has to say it's sorry - never has to take responsibility for ht misery it causes. Instead it can blame everything on personal greed, profit-hungry corporations, and the 'private sector.' And the government's cure for the problems is to impose bigger programs, more regulation and higher taxes.Collection: Sorry
Give government the weapons to fight your enemy and it will use them against you.Collection: Fighting
I want a government small enough to fit inside the Constitution.Collection: Government
Government seems to operate on the principle that if even one individual is incapable of using his freedom competently, no one can be allowed to be free.Collection: Government
If a law could keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people, there would be virtually no gun crime at all.Collection: Gun
Social Security is a fraudulent scheme in which the government collect money from you for your retirement - and immediately spend the money on something else.Collection: Retirement
There are no violent gangs fighting over aspirin territories. There are no violent gangs fighting over whisky territories or computer territories or anything else that's legal. There are only criminal gangs fighting over territories covering drugs, gambling, prostitution, and other victimless crimes. Making a non-violent activity a crime creates a black market, which attracts criminals and gangs, which turns what was once a relatively harmless activity affecting a small group of people into a widespread epidemic of drug use and gang warfare.Collection: Fighting
From the cranberry cancer scare of the 1950s to the Alar-in-apples hysteria of the 1980s, from the "new ice age" of the 1960s to the "global warming" of the 1990s, environmental alarms almost always turn out to be false. Few non-political scientists fear ozone loss, global warming, or acid rain. These are just issues that some people hope to use to reorder the lives of the rest of us.Collection: Cancer
...The Bill of Rights is a literal and absolute document. The First Amendment doesn't say you have a right to speak out unless the government has a 'compelling interest' in censoring the Internet. The Second Amendment doesn't say you have the right to keep and bear arms until some madman plants a bomb. The Fourth Amendment doesn't say you have the right to be secure from search and seizure unless some FBI agent thinks you fit the profile of a terrorist. The government has no right to interfere with any of these freedoms under any circumstances.Collection: Thinking
A little government involvement is just as dangerous as a lot - because the first leads inevitably to the second.Collection: Government
If you ask the government to impose morality, then moral questions will be decided by whoever has the most political power.Collection: Government
The income tax is the biggest single intrusion suffered by the American people. It forces every worker to be a bookkeeper, to open his records to the government, to explain his expenses, to fear conviction for a harmless accounting error. Compliance wastes billions of dollars. It penalizes savings and creates an enormous drag on the U.S. economy. It is incompatible with a free society, and we aren’t libertarians if we tolerate it.Collection: Errors
A welfare state is frightened of every poor person who tries to get in and every rich person who tries to get out.Collection: Government
It is well known that in war, the first casualty is truth – that during any war truth is forsaken for propaganda.Collection: Firsts