Leonard E. Read Quotes (23 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Leonard E. Read: 23 quotes 0 likes

Famous Leonard E. Read Quotes

“A fact rarely suspected, let alone understood, is that businessmen are by no means the chief beneficiaries of the free market, private ownership, limited government way of life. Many business ventures fail entirely. Who then are the beneficiaries? The masses!”

Leonard E. Read

“Statism is but socialized dishonesty; it is feathering the nests of some with feathers coercively plucked from others - on the grand scale. There is no moral — only a legal — distinction between petty thievery and political Robin Hoodism, which is to say, there is no moral difference between the act of a pickpocket and the progressive income tax or any other piece of socialization.”

Leonard E. Read

Anything That's Peaceful https://books.google.com/books?id=4wWA1vexxdsC&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74&dq=%22is+but+socialized+dishonesty;+it+is+feathering+the+nests+of+some+with+feathers+coercively+plucked+from+others+-+on+the+grand+scale.%22&source=bl&ots=1I89gu9Jmo&sig=8jpm9FnYbB87c8BB_twGQw8CC7o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjIuZ_58vLTAhXD4SYKHbHVAncQ6AEILDAB#v=onepage&q=%22is%20but%20socialized%20dishonesty%3B%20it%20is%20feathering%20the%20nests%20of%20some%20with%20feathers%20coercively%20plucked%20from%20others%20-%20on%20the%20grand%20scale.%22&f=false
Anything That's Peaceful (1964)

“Were it necessary to bring a majority into a comprehension of the libertarian philosophy, the cause of liberty would be utterly hopeless. Every significant movement in history has been led by one or just a few individuals with a small minority of energetic supporters.”

Leonard E. Read

How to Advance Liberty, How to Advance Liberty https://mises.org/library/how-advance-liberty

“Once an activity has been socialized, it is impossible to point out, by concrete example, how men in a free market could better conduct it. How, for instance, can one compare a socialized post office with private postal delivery when the latter has been outlawed?”

Leonard E. Read

Excuse Me, Professor: Challenging the Myths of Progressivism https://books.google.com/books?id=W3MuCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT25&dq=Once+an+activity+has+been+socialized,+it+is+impossible+to+point+out,+by+concrete+example,+how+men+in+a+free+market+could+better+conduct+it.+How,+for+instance,+can+one+compare+a+socialized+post+office+with+private+postal+delivery+when+the+latter+has+been+outlawed?&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilwZqz9PLTAhXGOyYKHSjJCk8Q6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=Once%20an%20activity%20has%20been%20socialized%2C%20it%20is%20impossible%20to%20point%20out%2C%20by%20concrete%20example%2C%20how%20men%20in%20a%20free%20market%20could%20better%20conduct%20it.%20How%2C%20for%20instance%2C%20can%20one%20compare%20a%20socialized%20post%20office%20with%20private%20postal%20delivery%20when%20the%20latter%20has%20been%20outlawed%3F&f=false
Excuse Me, Professor: Challenging the Myths of Progressivism

“There is really nothing that can be done except by an individual. Only individuals can learn. Only individuals can think creatively. Only individuals can cooperate. Only individuals can combat statism.”

Leonard E. Read

Essays on Liberty (1954), Essays on Liberty https://books.google.com/books?id=SugpAQAAMAAJ&dq=There+is+really+nothing+that+can+be+done+except+by+an+individual.+Only+individuals+can+learn.+Only+individuals+can+think+creatively.+Only+individuals+can+cooperate.+Only+individuals+can+combat+statism.&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22There+is+really+nothing+that+can+be+done+except+by+an+individual.+Only+individuals+can+learn.+Only+individuals+can+think+creatively.+Only+individuals+can+cooperate.+Only+individuals+can+combat+statism.%22

“It should be noted that people in the free market rarely bear false witness; integrity is the rule.”

Leonard E. Read

The Coming Aristocracy https://fee.org/resources/the-coming-aristocracy-2/
Context: It should be noted that people in the free market rarely bear false witness; integrity is the rule. The morning mile, phone calls, planes the airlines buy, autos by the millions - no one could list the instances - are as represented. We have daily, eloquent, enormous testimony that the Ten Commandments can be and are observed by fallible human beings. Contemporary politics is the most glaring of all exceptions.

Leonard E. Read Quotes

“In market terms, one is entitled to what others will offer in willing exchange. That is all!”

Leonard E. Read

Business is Entitled to a Fair Profit, BUSINESS IS ENTITLED TO A FAIR PROFIT http://www.themoralliberal.com/2015/03/18/business-is-entitled-to-a-fair-profit/
Context: Assuming the market is free from fraud, violence, misrepresentation, and predation, the economic failure or success of any individual is measured by what he can obtain in willing exchange—fairness being a state of affairs that is presupposed in the assumption. Everyone, according to any moral code I would respect, is entitled to fairness in the sense of no special privilege to anyone and open opportunity for all; no one is entitled to what is implied by a fair price, a fair wage, a fair salary, a fair rent, or a fair profit. In market terms, one is entitled to what others will offer in willing exchange. That is all!

“The lesson I have to teach is this: Leave all creative energies uninhibited. Merely organize society to act in harmony with this lesson.”

Leonard E. Read

I, Pencil (1958), I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html
Context: The lesson I have to teach is this: Leave all creative energies uninhibited. Merely organize society to act in harmony with this lesson. Let society's legal apparatus remove all obstacles the best it can. Permit these creative know-hows freely to flow. Have faith that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand. This faith will be confirmed.

“Socialism takes and redistributes wealth, but it is utterly incapable of creating wealth.”

Leonard E. Read

Anything That's Peaceful (1964)
Context: Socialism depends upon and presupposes material achievements which socialism itself can never create. Socialism is operative only in wealth situations brought about by motes of production other than its own. Socialism takes and redistributes wealth, but it is utterly incapable of creating wealth.

Wealth

“The more complex our economy, the more we should rely on the miraculous, self-adapting processes of men acting freely. No mind of man nor any combination of minds can even envision, let alone intelligently control, the countless human energy exchanges in a simple society, to say nothing of a complex one.”

Leonard E. Read

The More Complex the Society, the More Government Control We Need https://books.google.com/books?id=W3MuCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT18&lpg=PT18&dq=The+more+complex+our+economy,+the+more+we+should+rely+on+the+miraculous,+self-adapting+processes+of+men+acting+freely.+No+mind+of+man+nor+any+combination+of+minds+can+even+envision,+let+alone+intelligently+control,+the+countless+human+energy+exchanges+in+a+simple+society,+to+say+nothing+of+a+complex+one.&source=bl&ots=OZxiANz5bm&sig=QP-xiNhoDNxDDMB1mcR25NuqEl4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiq04eE9_LTAhVMKyYKHWh_BGEQ6AEIKjAB#v=onepage&q=The%20more%20complex%20our%20economy%2C%20the%20more%20we%20should%20rely%20on%20the%20miraculous%2C%20self-adapting%20processes%20of%20men%20acting%20freely.%20No%20mind%20of%20man%20nor%20any%20combination%20of%20minds%20can%20even%20envision%2C%20let%20alone%20intelligently%20control%2C%20the%20countless%20human%20energy%20exchanges%20in%20a%20simple%20society%2C%20to%20say%20nothing%20of%20a%20complex%20one.&f=false
Excuse Me, Professor: Challenging the Myths of Progressivism

Men , Intelligence

“Whenever government assumes responsibility for the security, welfare, and prosperity of citizens, the costs of government rise beyond the point where it is politically expedient to cover them by direct tax levies.”

Leonard E. Read

I Prefer Security to Freedom (1962)

“Communism, socialism, the welfare state, et cetera, are essentially one and the same thing.”

Leonard E. Read

Leonard Read Journals, November 5, 1951 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1951/leonard-e-read-journal-november-1951/

Communication

“Freedom is the key to Godliness”

Leonard E. Read

Leonard Read Journals, October 24, 1951 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1951/leonard-e-read-journal-october-1951/

Freedom

“Self-promotion is self-defeating. No matter how brilliant an individual, one becomes instinctively "leery" when he toots his own horn.”

Leonard E. Read

Leonard Read Journals, September 18, 1959 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1959/leonard-e-read-journal-september-1959

“Socialism is founded on a lie -- the premise that man knows more than he in fact does know.”

Leonard E. Read

Leonard Read Journals, September 18, 1959 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1959/leonard-e-read-journal-september-1959

Lie

“At one end of the intellectual spectrum are the wise, those who know they don't know much; and on the other end are the egotists, those who have little, if any, awareness of how little they know.”

Leonard E. Read

Leonard Read Journals, September 6, 1959 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1959/leonard-e-read-journal-september-1959

“Civilization, I sometimes think, is little more than a thin veneer of culture covering a host of red-assed baboons!”

Leonard E. Read

Leonard Read Journals, November 11, 1951 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1951/leonard-e-read-journal-november-1951/

Thinking

“All creative thought and creative action is strictly personal. A committee, any collective, cannot think. It cannot act creatively. It can only act destructively. It can exercise brute force.”

Leonard E. Read

Leonard Read Journals, November 4, 1951 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1951/leonard-e-read-journal-november-1951/

Personality , Thinking , Exercises

“If we are free to be our varietal selves; if there be no obstructions to the exchange of ideas and goods; if we have the liberty to move; society and”

Leonard E. Read

Idea

“An action is morally good which aids or promotes this unfolding of self and it is morally bad if it inhibits or destroys the process. It, of course, goes without saying that this does not include one's own rise at the expense of another.”

Leonard E. Read

Leonard Read Journals, October 24, 1951 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1951/leonard-e-read-journal-october-1951/

“What would you cut out of government expenditures?”

Leonard E. Read

I cannot answer that question. Ask me what I would leave in.
Leonard Read Journals, October 17, 1951 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1951/leonard-e-read-journal-october-1951/