Lysander Spooner

“A man's natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime.”

“A man is no more a slave because he is born to a slave, than he is a sinner because he is born to a sinner.”

“If taxation without consent is not robbery, then any band of robbers have only to declare themselves a government, and all their robberies are legalized.”

“Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property. Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property of another.”

“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.”

“The secret ballot makes a secret government; and a secret government is a secret conspiracy of knaves and robbers.”

“Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it.”

“To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so.”

“A government that can at pleasure accuse, shoot, and hang men, as traitors, for the one virtuous act of their lives, is a government that ought not to be suffered to exist.”

“The only security men can have for their political liberty consists in keeping their money in their own pockets.”

“The constitution has no inherent authority or obligation. It has no authority or obligation at all, unless as a contract between man and man.”

“All legitimate government is a mutual insurance company, voluntarily supported by those who desire its protection.”

“Legally speaking, there are no such things as 'public rights,' as distinguished from individual rights. Legally speaking, there is no such creature or thing as 'the public.'”

“A man's rights are to be ascertained and defined by the law of nature; and not by any human statute, ordinance, or constitution.”

“Justice is the crowning glory of the virtues.”