L. Neil Smith Quotes

L. Neil Smith should not be confused with J. Neil Schulman



Lester Neil Smith III , better known as L. Neil Smith, is an American libertarian science fiction author and political activist. His works include the trilogy of Lando Calrissian novels, all published in 1983: Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon, and Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka. He also wrote the novels Pallas, The Forge of the Elders, and The Probability Broach, each of which won the Libertarian Futurist Society's annual Prometheus Award for best libertarian science fiction novel. In 2016, Smith received a Special Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Libertarian Futurist Society. Wikipedia  

✵ 12. May 1946
L. Neil Smith: 99   quotes 1   like

Famous L. Neil Smith Quotes

“A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim.”

Zero Aggression Principle ("ZAP"), from "Who is a Libertarian?"
Variant: A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim.

L. Neil Smith: Trending quotes

“Then they marry and see each other mostly in profile for the rest of their lives.”

"Back to the Trees!"
Context: I suspect that our ancestors adapted to bipedalism for the view above the level of the grass, as much as for anything else. Later, they discovered that they could carry things if they remained upright.
Change of posture brought other changes. Notice, for example, that human beings court face-to-face. Then they marry and see each other mostly in profile for the rest of their lives. But see each other they do, while animals, at least judging from my cats, hardly ever look one another in the face. Ultimately, I believe that eye contact changed everything.

“All real libertarians are dedicated to the eventual elimination of all taxes.”

"The Unnecessary Depression".
Context: All real libertarians are dedicated to the eventual elimination of all taxes. That's one way you can tell them from the fakes. If anyone asks what government will run on, tell them it's not our problem. If they can create a 'government' that doesn't initiate force and steal from us, that doesn't break things and kill people in the enforcement of the will of parasites, that doesn't subsist by beating individuals up and killing them, they're welcome to try. Just leave us out of it altogether.

“The War on Drugs is over. Drugs won.”

"The Brontosaurus in the Broom Closet".
Context: The War on Drugs is over. Drugs won. It's time to stop wasting money, destroying lives, grinding up the Bill of Rights, and giving greater and greater power to the jackbooted thugs, in an unnecessary and futile attempt to enforce one group's ideas about what chemicals and vegetables some other group ought to manufacture, cultivate, distribute, purchase, possess, and consume. Repeal the drug laws, and prices will drop a thousandfold, driving most participants out of the business.

L. Neil Smith Quotes

“Any politico who's afraid of his constituents being armed, should be.”

"The Brontosaurus in the Broom Closet".
Context: Any politico who's afraid of his constituents being armed, should be. Leaders of the anti-gun movement (for the most part, politicians who enthusiastically advocate confiscatory taxation and government control of everything) realize that a populace is much easier to herd, loot — and dispose of — if it has been stripped of its weapons. The naked fraud and transparent fascism of victim disarmament must be eradicated through the repeal of all gun laws at every level of government.

“The only hope we have is the Internet.
We must strive to keep it free.”

"Keep Your Filthy Hands Off The Internet" 20 June 2010.

“Great men don't 'move to the center' — great men move the center!”

"Some New Tactical Reflections".

“Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon — rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything — any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission.”

" The Atlanta Declaration http://www.lneilsmith.org/AtlantaDeclaration.swf," http://www.lneilsmith.org/atlanta.html presented at WeaponsCon I, Atlanta, Georgia, September 1987.

“The Bill of Rights isn't about us, it's about them. It isn't a list of things we're permitted to do, it's a list of things they aren't allowed even to consider.”

"To Hell With Public Schools," http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2012/tle670-20120513-02.html 13 May 2012.

“What I want to accomplish artistically amounts to nothing more than fulfilling the promise of the American Revolution.”

Statement of purpose, L. Neil Smith's "The Webley Page" http://www.lneilsmith.org/

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