Quote

And this is what has taken place. The delusion of the day is to enrich all classes at the expense of each other it is to generalize plunder under pretense of organizing it.

Frederic Bastiat

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Frederic Bastiat
Age: 49 †
Born: 1801
Born: June 30
Died: 1850
Died: December 24
Economist
Essayist
Magistrate
Philosopher
Politician
Baiona
Claude Frédéric Bastiat
Expenses
Classes
Delusion
Generalize
Class
Enrich
Taken
Plunder
Place
Organizing
Pretense
Expense

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The profit of the one is the profit of the other.
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The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder.
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It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.
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We cannot doubt that self-interest is the mainspring of human nature. It must be clearly understood that this word is used here to designate a universal, incontestable fact, resulting from the nature of man, and not an adverse judgment, as would be the word selfishness.
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We hold from God the gift which includes all others. This gift is life - physical, intellectual, and moral life.
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The impulses of my heart are the voice of Nature, which is never mistaken. The institutions that stand in my way are man-made and are only arbitrary conventions to which I have never given my consent. In trampling these institutions underfoot, I shall have the double pleasure of satisfying my inclinations and of believing myself a hero
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Repetition may not entertain, but it teaches.
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Liberty is an acknowledgement of faith in God and his works.
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Taking Five and Returning Four is not Giving
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There is in all of a strong disposition to believe that anything lawful is also legitimate. This belief is so widespread that many persons have erroneously held that things are just because the law makes them so.
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Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.
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There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a more alarming situation.
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