QUOTES OF THE DAY 3-29-12

The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation. Vladimir Lenin

The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be and has often been in the course of history the main source of mischief and disaster. Ludwig von Mises

The advocates of public control cannot do without inflation. They need it in order to finance their policy of reckless spending and of lavishly subsidizing and bribing the voters. Ludwig von Mises

It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them Mark Twain

It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so Mark Twain

Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone. Frederic Bastiat

An almost hysterical antagonism towards the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense — perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire — that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument of laissez-faire and that each implies and requires the other. Alan Greenspan

The fat lady never sings in Washington. No decision is ever final; no word is a bond; no contract binds a congressman; no bill or resolution has force beyond the next election. That’s the first principle of our government, and the second is similar: Every dollar of federal spending is pork first. Thomas Donlan, Barron’s

Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider affairs with a philosophical eye, than the ease with which the many are governed by the few. David Hume

The nation could be ruined, its democracy destroyed, and millions of people scattered or killed. Or America could enter a new golden age, triumphantly applying shared values to improve the human condition. The rhythms of history do not reveal the outcome of the coming Crisis; all they suggest is the timing and dimension. Strauss and Howe, “The Fourth Turning”

The history of government management of money has, except for a few short happy periods, been one of incessant fraud and deception. Friedrich Hayek

An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation. John Marshall (Chief Justice)

The fight is as big as the idea, the foundation, the being of this great nation, the fight for America. Yes, it’s as big as all that, and the enemy is ruthless, unscrupulous, and evil — and willing to do whatever it takes to assume absolute control. They build nothing, produce nothing, create nothing, invent nothing. They steal. They demand. They demoralize. They are destroyers. Pamela Geller

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots H. L. Mencken

How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! Samuel Adams