Harry Browne Liberty Quotations

For most of our history, Americans enjoyed both liberty and security from foreign threats.

A little government involvement is just as dangerous as a lot - because the first leads inevitably to the second.

Not only can no one predict the future, we don't understand the present - and there isn't even any certainty about the past.

Once upon a time, government budgets were balanced, our money was sound, the streets were safe, and taxes imposed by all levels of government took less than 10% of our income.

Our government, taxes, and ideas of freedom are already duplicates of the Old World. Our politicians determine how we should live our lives - and our individual liberties are sacrificed for the benefit of the Fatherland.

Can you think of a single area of government in which George Bush hasn't already made things worse than Bill Clinton did?

The problem is big government. If whoever controls government can impose his way upon you, you have to fight constantly to prevent the control from being harmful. With small, limited government, it doesn't much matter who controls it, because it can't do you much harm.

I want a government small enough to fit inside the Constitution.

It's wrong for someone to confiscate your money, give it to someone else, and call that "compassion."

A welfare state is frightened of every poor person who tries to get in and every rich person who tries to get out.

Republicans campaign like Libertarians and govern like Democrats.

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.

The free market punishes irresponsibility. Government rewards it.

The government is good at one thing. It knows how to break your legs, and then hand you a crutch and say, "See if it weren't for the government, you wouldn't be able to walk".