A race of altruists is necessarily a race of slaves. A race of free men is necessarily a race of read more

A race of altruists is necessarily a race of slaves. A race of free men is necessarily a race of egoists.

Once you get into this great stream of history, you can't get out.

Once you get into this great stream of history, you can't get out.

Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.

Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.

Property is a central economic institution of any society, and private property is the central institution of a free society.

Property is a central economic institution of any society, and private property is the central institution of a free society.

Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.

Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.

Party honesty is party expediency.

Party honesty is party expediency.

A war is not won if the defeated enemy has not been turned into a friend.

A war is not won if the defeated enemy has not been turned into a friend.

It is the very essence of despotism that it can never afford to fail. This is what distinguishes it most read more

It is the very essence of despotism that it can never afford to fail. This is what distinguishes it most vitally from democracy. In a despotism there is no organized opposition which can take over the power when the Administration in office has failed. All the eggs are in one basket. Everything is staked on one coterie of men. When the going is good, they move more quickly and efficiently than democracies, where the opposition has to be persuaded and conciliated. But when they lose, there are no reserves. There are no substitutes on the bench ready to go out on the field and carry the ball. That is why democracies with the habit of party government have outlived all other forms of government in the modern world. They have, as it were, at least two governments always at hand, and when one fails they have the other. They have diversified the risks of mortality, corruption, and stupidity which pervade all human affairs. They have remembered that the most beautifully impressive machine cannot run for very long unless there is available a complete supply of spare parts.

The "private sector" of the economy is, in fact, the voluntary sector; and...the "public sector" is, in fact, the coercive read more

The "private sector" of the economy is, in fact, the voluntary sector; and...the "public sector" is, in fact, the coercive sector.