The best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or
driving them out of it.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1766
***
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence.
And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do
for themselves.
—William J. H. Boetcker, 1916
24
The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced […] Payments to
foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn ’t want to go bankrupt. People
must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.
—Cicero, 55 BC
25
Nothing is so well calculated to produce a death-like torpor in the country as an extended
system of taxation and a great national debt.
—William Cobbett, 1804
Fundamentally, there are two ways of coordinating the economic activity of millions. One
is central direction involving the use of coercion: the technique of the army and the modern
totalitarian state. The other is voluntary cooperation of individuals: the technique of the
marketplace.
—Milton Friedman, 1962
America has believed that in differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress. It
acted on this belief; it has advanced human happiness, and it has prospered.
—Louis D. Brandeis, 1915
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our
dinner, but from their regard of their own interest.
—Adam Smith, 1776
The worst crime against working people is a company which fails to operate at a profit.
—Samuel Gompers
26
24
These so-called Ten Cannots are often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln.
25
Note the date; it takes millennia for some wisdoms to sink in ….
26
As quoted by Michael Rothschild in 1990.
172
On Government and Politics
driving them out of it.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1766
***
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence.
And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do
for themselves.
—William J. H. Boetcker, 1916
24
The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced […] Payments to
foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn ’t want to go bankrupt. People
must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.
—Cicero, 55 BC
25
Nothing is so well calculated to produce a death-like torpor in the country as an extended
system of taxation and a great national debt.
—William Cobbett, 1804
Fundamentally, there are two ways of coordinating the economic activity of millions. One
is central direction involving the use of coercion: the technique of the army and the modern
totalitarian state. The other is voluntary cooperation of individuals: the technique of the
marketplace.
—Milton Friedman, 1962
America has believed that in differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress. It
acted on this belief; it has advanced human happiness, and it has prospered.
—Louis D. Brandeis, 1915
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our
dinner, but from their regard of their own interest.
—Adam Smith, 1776
The worst crime against working people is a company which fails to operate at a profit.
—Samuel Gompers
26
24
These so-called Ten Cannots are often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln.
25
Note the date; it takes millennia for some wisdoms to sink in ….
26
As quoted by Michael Rothschild in 1990.
172
On Government and Politics