Justice is a concept. Muscle is the reality.

Justice is a concept. Muscle is the reality.

The ingrained idea that, because there is no king and they despise titles, the Americans are a free people is read more

The ingrained idea that, because there is no king and they despise titles, the Americans are a free people is pathetically untrue. There is a perpetual interference with personal liberty over there that would not be tolerated in England for a week.

Nothing can so alienate a voter from the political system as backing a winning candidate.

Nothing can so alienate a voter from the political system as backing a winning candidate.

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions -- it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions -- it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

The State, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the read more

The State, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.

The career of a politician mainly consists in making one part of the nation do what it does not want read more

The career of a politician mainly consists in making one part of the nation do what it does not want to do, in order to please and satisfy the other part of the nation. It is the prolonged sacrifice of the rights of some persons at the bidding and for the satisfaction of other persons. The ruling idea of the politician - stated rather bluntly - is that those who are opposed to him exist for the purpose of being made to serve his ends, if he can get power enough in his hands to force these ends upon them.

Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what it is you want to hear.

Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what it is you want to hear.

In modern war, the longest purse decides oftener than the longest sword.

In modern war, the longest purse decides oftener than the longest sword.

We should...be able to see that our interest would be best served not by asking the state to promulgate our read more

We should...be able to see that our interest would be best served not by asking the state to promulgate our values but by forbidding the state to promulgate any values at all. If the state can espouse some value that we love, it can, with equal justice, espouse others we do not love.