...History shows that ... (people) can be deflected from their natural tendencies by artful propaganda, bogus crises, or other political trickery.

The beginning of political wisdom is the realization that despite everything you’ve always been taught, the government is not really on your side; indeed, it is out to get you.

Intervene globally, lose freedom locally.

Without popular fear, no government would endure more than twenty-four hours.

If I had to use a single word to describe what is fundamentally wrong with government today, I would use the word fraud.

By adopting programs to distribute substantial amounts of income, a nation guarantees that its government will become more powerful and invasive in other ways.

Since the end of the nineteenth century, if not earlier, presidents have misled the public about their motives and their intentions in going to war.

True counselors of despair are those who hope against hope—and historical experience—that the government can and will act constructively.

Inflation is not a benign element in the economy's operation. It is, as it has always been, the most dangerous and destructive form of taxation.

Abetted by misguided or co-opted intellectuals, the rulers weave a cloak of legitimacy to disguise their theft and hence to ease their extraction of wealth from the rightful owners.

Once a bureau is created, its staff becomes a tenacious political interest group, well placed to defend its budget and to make a case for expanding its activities.

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

What doesn't kill you makes a good story.

It rubs me the wrong way, a camera... It's a frightening thing...Cameras make ghosts out of people.

I was never a left-winger, actually. I was a pretend left-winger because it was more interesting than being a right-winger.

The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among free men.

You are physically up for scrutiny by everyone and you hear everyone's opinion.

To give counsel, as well as to take it, is a feature of true friendship.

I just have this thing inside me that wants to eat and conquer. Maybe it's egotistical, but I have it in me. I don't want to be a tycoon. I just want to conquer people and their souls.

The hack songwriter will write the absolute truth every single word, whether it makes a great song or not.

And suddenly I knew I was people and could not stop laughing.