AmadeusB

Verifizierter Autor @AmadeusB, mitglied von 9. September 2026
Ludwig von Mises Foto

„Ein freier Mensch muß es ertragen können, daß seine Mitmenschen anders handeln und anders leben, als er es für richtig hält, und muß sich abgewöhnen, sobald ihm etwas nicht gefällt, nach der Polizei zu rufen.“

Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) österreichischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler

Liberalismus, Teil I, Kapitel 11

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

The Law (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“It is a rather singular argument to maintain that, because an abuse which has been permitted a temporary existence, cannot be corrected without wounding the interests of those who have profited by it, it ought, therefore, to claim perpetual duration.”

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Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

Economic Sophisms, 1st series (1845), ch. 20 Human Labour, National Labour
Economic Sophisms (1845–1848)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“Thus, if there exists a law which sanctions slavery or monopoly, oppression or robbery, in any form whatever, it must not even be mentioned. For how can it be mentioned without damaging the respect which it inspires? Still further, morality and political economy must be taught from the point of view of this law; from the supposition that it must be a just law merely because it is a law. Another effect of this tragic perversion of the law is that it gives an exaggerated importance to political passions and conflicts, and to politics in general.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

The Law (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain. I do not dispute their right to invent social combinations, to advertise them, to advocate them, and to try them upon themselves, at their own expense and risk. But I do dispute their right to impose these plans upon us by law – by force – and to compel us to pay for them with our taxes.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

The Law (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“It seems to me that this is theoretically right, for whatever the question under discussion — whether religious, philosophical, political, or economic; whether it concerns prosperity, morality, equality, right, justice, progress, responsibility, cooperation, property, labor, trade, capital, wages, taxes, population, finance, or government — at whatever point on the scientific horizon I begin my researches, I invariably reach this one conclusion: The solution to the problems of human relationships is to be found in liberty.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

The Law (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“The profit of the one is the profit of the other.”

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Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

Economic harmonies, par. 4.118.

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“Competition is merely the absence of oppression.”

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Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

Economic harmonies, par. 10.4.

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“Try to imagine a regulation of labor imposed by force that is not a violation of liberty; a transfer of wealth imposed by force that is not a violation of property. If you cannot reconcile these contradictions, then you must conclude that the law cannot organize labor and industry without organizing injustice.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

Essayez d’imaginer une forme de travail imposée par la Force, qui ne soit une atteinte à la Liberté ; une transmission de richesse imposée par la Force, qui ne soit une atteinte à la Propriété. Si vous n’y parvenez pas, convenez donc que la Loi ne peut organiser le travail et l’industrie sans organiser l’Injustice.
The Law (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“No legal plunder: This is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony, and logic. Until the day of my death, I shall proclaim this principle with all the force of my lungs”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

which alas! is all too inadequate
The Law (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“Legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on. All these plans as a whole — with their common aim of legal plunder — constitute socialism.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

The Law (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“When under the pretext of fraternity, the legal code imposes mutual sacrifices on the citizens, human nature is not thereby abrogated. Everyone will then direct his efforts toward contributing little to, and taking much from, the common fund of sacrifices. Now, is it the most unfortunate who gains from this struggle? Certainly not, but rather the most influential and calculating.”

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Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

Justice and fraternity, in Journal des Économistes, 15 June 1848, page 324.
Justice and Fraternity (1848)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

The Law (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

The Law (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“By virtue of exchange, one man's prosperity is beneficial to all others.”

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Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

Economic harmonies, par. 4.110.

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“It is not true that the legislator has absolute power over our persons and property. The existence of persons and property preceded the existence of the legislator, and his function is only to guarantee their safety.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

Quelle: The Law

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“The mission of law is not to oppress persons and plunder them of their property, even thought the law may be acting in a philanthropic spirit. Its mission is to protect property.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

Quelle: The Law

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.”

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Frédéric Bastiat buch The Law

Quelle: The Law (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“Slavery, protection, and monopoly find defenders, not only in those who profit by them, but in those who suffer by them.”

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Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

Frédéric Bastiat Foto

“The most urgent necessity is, not that the State should teach, but that it should allow education. All monopolies are detestable, but the worst of all is the monopoly of education.”

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Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

Le plus pressé, ce n'est pas que l'État enseigne, mais qu'il laisse enseigner. Tous les monopoles sont détestables, mais le pire de tous, c'est le monopole de l'enseignement.
In 'Cursed Money!', final thought.
The Bastiat-Proudhon Debate on Interest (1849–1850)
Quelle: What Is Money?