The state tends to expand in proportion to its means of existence and to live beyond its means, and these are, in the last analysis, nothing but the substance of the people. Woe to the people that cannot limit the sphere of action of the state! Freedom, private enterprise, wealth, happiness, independence, personal dignity, all vanish.
Interpretation
The quote warns against an expanding state that outgrows its means, leading to the erosion of personal freedoms and dignity.
Frédéric Bastiat's quote reflects the dangers of a state that increases its power and influence beyond sustainable limits, which ultimately affects the people's freedom and prosperity. It suggests that when the state becomes too expansive and intrusive, it can stifle private enterprise and individual rights, leading to a loss of wealth, happiness, and dignity among its citizens. Bastiat's perspective emphasizes the need for individuals to restrict state power to ensure their personal freedoms and maintain a healthy society.
In practice
In a speech about government intervention, emphasizing the importance of personal freedoms.
Now, 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.
No society can exist if respect for the law does not to some extent prevail; but the surest way to have the laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality are in contradiction, the citizen finds himself in the cruel dilemma of either losing his moral sense or of losing respect for the law, two evils of which one is as great as the other, and between which it is difficult to choose.
The law is the collective organization of the individual's right to lawful defense of his life, liberty and property. When it is used for anything else, no matter how noble the cause, it becomes perverted and justice is weakened. Thus, the law has become perverted by stupid greed and false philanthropy.
If you wish to prosper, let your customer prosper.
They will come to learn in the end, at their own expense, that it is better to endure competition for rich customers than to be invested with monopoly over impoverished customers.
Each of us has a natural right, from God, to defend his person, his liberty, and his property.
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
I can tell you that solitude Is not all exaltation, inner space Where the soul breathes and work can be done. Solitude exposes the nerve, Raises up ghosts. The past, never at rest, flows through it.
The practice of altruism is the authentic way to live as a human being, and it is not just for religious people. As human beings, our purpose is to live meaningful lives, to develop a warm heart. There is meaning in being everyone's friend. The real source of peace amongst our families, friends and neighbours is love and compassion.
The world is agreed that labor is the source from which human wants are mainly supplied. There is no dispute upon this point.
Likewise grace and glory are referred to the same genus, since grace is nothing other than a certain first beginning of glory in us.
Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry.
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