One modern expert on libertarian thought is Cato Institute scholar, David Boaz. I enjoyed reading his book The Libertarian Reader. Another interesting book seems to be Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom. He really knows the subject well, and for those who are interested in the strengths of the philosophy, he (and the myriad contributors to the compendium) lays it out clearly. I personally am not a libertarian per se, but I do see libertarianism as offering some “leavening” for my generally progressive outlook. Enjoy these David Boaz quotes:
“One difference between libertarianism and socialism is that a socialist society can’t tolerate groups of people practicing freedom, but a libertarian society can comfortably allow people to choose voluntary socialism. If a group of people — even a very large group — wanted to purchase land and own it in common, they would be free to do so. The libertarian legal order would require only that no one be coerced into joining or giving up his property.”
“When rights become merely legal claims attached to interests and preferences, the stage is set for political and social conflict.”
“Libertarian social analysis begins with the individual. Although man, unlike other animals, can achieve very little without combining with others, still it is individuals who enter into association. Each individual is responsible for his or her own survival and flourishing. Only individuals can assume responsibility for the consequences of their actions.”
“Libertarianism offers an alternative to coercive government that should appeal to peaceful, productive people everywhere. No, a libertarian world isn’t a perfect one. There will still be inequality, poverty, crime, corruption, man’s inhumanity to man. But, unlike the theocratic visionaries, the pie-in-the-sky socialist utopians, or the starry-eyed Mr. Fixits of the New Deal and Great Society, libertarians don’t promise you a rose garden. Karl Popper once said that attempts to create heaven on earth invariably produce hell. Libertarianism holds out, not the goal of a perfect society, but of a better and freer one. It promises a world in which more of the decisions will be made in the right way by the right person: you.”
“The heritage of the West is the extension of human dignity to more people. Through the struggles for freedom of conscience, abolition of slavery, the liberation of women and minorities, and freedom of enterprise, libertarian thinkers have sought to achieve for every individual the dignity of freedom and responsibility.”
“One effect of methodological individualism is to ask the question that some might prefer to obscure, whether the topic is imperialism or ‘national economic planning’ or ‘strengthening family values.’ Both methodologically and philosophically, libertarianism puts the individual at center stage.”
“We have rights because we are moral agents and because we need rights to bring about social cooperation. But should we have the right to do things that are — according to someone’s moral theory — wrong?”
“Economic freedom means that people are free to produce and to exchange with others.”
“From his post at the University of Salamanca, Francisco de Vitoria condemned the Spanish enslavement of the Indians in the New World in terms of individualism and natural rights: ‘Every Indian is a man and thus capable of achieving salvation or damnation. Every man is a person and is the master of his body and possession. Inasmuch as he is a person, every Indian has free will and, consequently, is the master of his actions… Every man has the right to his own life and to physical and mental integrity.’”
“Libertarianism is not libertinism or hedonism. It is not a claim that ‘people can do anything they want to, and nobody else can say anything.’ Rather, libertarianism proposes a society of liberty under law, in which individuals are free to pursue their own lives so long as they respect the equal rights of others. The rule of law means that individuals are governed by generally applicable and spontaneously developed legal rules, not by arbitrary commands; and that those rules should protect the freedom of individuals to pursue happiness in their own ways, not aim at any particular result or outcome.”
“We are frequently confused between two meanings of freedom: freedom as participation in public affairs and freedom as the individual right to worship, trade, speak, and come and go as we please. Benjamin Constant explains that the former definition was that of the ancient world, but it is not suited to the modern world of commerce and the extended society, where people are busy pursuing their own projects and have no time to spend the day in the public square debating politics.”
“Libertarianism is often seen primarily as a philosophy of economic freedom, but its historical roots are perhaps more firmly planted n the struggle for religious toleration. From the early Christians who developed theories of toleration in the face of Roman persecution to the observers of the happy Dutch experience with toleration in the seventeenth century, proto-libertarians argued that each person has ‘a property in his conscience’ into which the state should not intrude.”
“Libertarians believe that government should be limited to protecting the life, liberty, and property of each individual. It should not be empowered to influence our opinions, improve our moral character, or impose legal penalties on people who engage in immoral behavior that does not violate the rights of others. Drawing on an ancient Western tradition, libertarians typically argue that actions are virtuous only when they are freely chosen and that the improvement of character should be left to the voluntary sector of society.”
“In the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith argued that the real wealth of a nation is not the gold and silver held by the crown but the consumable goods available to any random individual, and that wealth would be increased by giving free rein to individuals to pursue their own interest, constrained only by laws equally applicable to all.”
“Indeed, the new individualist order of capitalism and the intellectual ferment for natural rights could hardly fail to generate strong pressures for feminism, as well as for the abolition of slavery. Feminism and abolitionism intertwined in England and America in a general context of liberalism and individual rights. The sisters Sarah and Angelina Grimké began to think of their own rights as women while crusading for the rights of African-Americans. They rested their arguments squarely on the notion that every individual is a moral agent who must take responsibility for his or her actions.”
“The fervor for natural rights in the late eighteenth century inevitably led some people to raise the issue of the rights of women. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97) responded to Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France by writing A Vindication of the Rights of Men, in which she argued that ‘the birthright of man… is such a degree of liberty, civil, and religious, as is compatible with the liberty of every other individual with whom he is united in a social compact.’ Just two years later she published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which asked, ‘Consider… whether, when men contend for their freedom… it be not inconsistent and unjust to subjugate women?’ Her case for women’s rights is made entirely in libertarian terms of equal and natural rights.”
“Slavery was about as clear a violation of libertarian principles as could be imagined, so it’s no surprise that many leading abolitionists were libertarians. They staked their argument on the natural and imprescriptible rights of life, liberty, and property, noting in particular that each person owns himself — so the slaveholder is, as this Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Convention (1833) argues, a ‘man-stealer.’”
“The idea of individual rights runs throughout the history of liberal and libertarian thought. Some philosophers have thought that rights came from God: thus the Declaration of Independence says that men are “endowed by their Creator” with inalienable rights. Others have found the source of rights in the nature of human beings — thus “natural” rights — or in the need for social co-operation. But all have agreed that rights are imprescriptible, that is, not granted by government.”
“The emphasis on the individual mind in the Enlightenment, the individualist nature of the emerging market order, and the demand for individual rights that inspired the American Revolution naturally led people to think more carefully about the nature of the individual and soon to insist that the dignity of individual rights be extended to all rational individuals. Feminism and abolitionism both developed in that climate, and each drew strength from the other.”
“John Locke produced the great modern defense of individual rights. He claimed that people have rights before the existence of government — thus we call them natural rights, because they exist in nature. People form a government to protect their rights. They could do that without government, but a well-ordered government is an efficient system for protecting rights. And if government exceeds that role, people are justified in revolting. Representative government is the best way to ensure that government sticks to its proper purpose.”
More quotations about libertarianism and libertarian quotes can be found in The Wisdom Archive, perhaps the world’s best quote search engine when it comes to quotes about values and ethics and wisdom! There aren’t too many David Boaz quotes in addition to the ones herein, but be sure to look up John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith, John Locke, and Ayn Rand! It is one heckuva quote database. Enjoy!
