Bruno Prior's Quotes

Ben Franklin (2)

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"

Benjamin Frankin

PJ O'Rourke, Give War A Chance, p.47

"The Soviet economy is undermined by a kind of reverse black market from an anti-matter universe, a black market where it is legal to buy things you don't want too cheaply", Give War a Chance (1992)

P.J. O'Rourke

PJ O'Rourke, Give War A Chance, p.43

"It's impossible to get decent Chinese takeout in China, Cuban cigars are rationed in Cuba, and that's all you need to know about communism", Give War a Chance (1992)

P.J. O'Rourke

PJ O'Rourke, Give War A Chance, p.49

"'We need some economist to give us a plan' said Marina [PJ's Intourist guide in "post-communist" Ukraine].
'You had that already,' I said."
Give War a Chance (1992)

P.J.O'Rourke

Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism, p.136

"The parties of special interests, which see nothing more in politics than the securing of special privileges and prerogatives for their own groups, not only make the parliamentary system impossible; they rupture the unity of the state and of society", Liberalism (1927)

Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism, p.132

"All who enter a parliament charged with responsibility of there deciding how the country shall be governed must be imbued with the conviction that the rightly understood interests of all parts and members of society coincide and that every kind of special privilege for particular groups and classes of the population is detrimental to the common good and must be eliminated", Liberalism (1927)

Ludwig von Mises

Frederic Bastiat (4)

"Political economists are in general quite suspicious of governmental intervention. They see in it inconveniences of all kinds—a diminution of individual liberty, energy, prudence, and experience, which constitute the most precious resources of any society. Hence, it often happens that they oppose this intervention."

Frédéric Bastiat

Walter Bagehot (2)

"The most melancholy of human reflections, perhaps, is that, on the whole, it is a question whether the benevolence of mankind does most good or harm", Physics and Politics (1872)

Walter Bagehot

Lev A Artsimovich

"The joke definition according to which 'Science is the best way of satisfying the curiosity of individuals at government's expense' is more or less correct."

Lev A Artsimovich

Voltaire

"The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third."

Voltaire