John Hospers Quotes & Sayings

If each human being is to have liberty, he cannot also have the liberty to deprive others of their liberty. — John Hospers

More than almost any current book, DTU will wake the reader from his dogmatic slumbers. It is eminently readable, challenging, and provocative. — John Hospers

An economy cannot long remain prosperous by government's taxing and spending more, now absorbing national output at a rate equal to the entire income of every American living west of the Mississippi. If this trend continues, America will gradually sink into the status of a Third World nation - more unemployment, more shackles on production, more poverty. — John Hospers

By far the most numerous and most flagrant violations of personal liberty and individual rights are performed by governments ... The major crimes throughout history, the ones executed on the largest scale, have been committed not by individuals or bands of individuals but by governments, as a deliberate policy of those governments-that is, by the official representatives of governments, acting in their official capacity. — John Hospers

Whether or not we have personality disturbances, whether or not we have the ability to overcome deficiencies of early environment, is like the answer to the question whether or not we shall be struck down by a dread disease: "it's all a matter of luck." It is important to keep this in mind, for people almost always forget it, with consequences in human intolerance and unnecessary suffering that are incalculable. — John Hospers

The tyranny of a majority can be just as cruel as the tyranny of a single dictator, depending on the degree of enlightenment or stupidity of the voting majority. — John Hospers

The greater the hold of government upon the life of the individual citizen, the greater the risk of war. — John Hospers

Undertaking initially to protect its citizens against aggression, [government] has often itself become ... a far greater aggressor. — John Hospers