“[I]t is nevertheless proper to make men aware that the price they pay for attempting to uphold the artificial right of property, is nothing less than the enormous sum of misery inflicted in the name of law and government.”

—  Thomas Hodgskin

Source: The Natural and Artificial Right of Property Contrasted (1832), p. 157

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "[I]t is nevertheless proper to make men aware that the price they pay for attempting to uphold the artificial right of …" by Thomas Hodgskin?
Thomas Hodgskin photo
Thomas Hodgskin 21
British writer 1787–1869

Related quotes

Jeet Thayil photo

“Yet, this is a small price I have had to pay for seeking to uphold the freedom of speech and expression.”

Jeet Thayil (1959) Indian writer

On his facing a case filed against him along with three other authors for reading out portions of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses during last year’s lit fest,
Mohammed Iqbal, in: "Jeet Thayil wins DSC Prize for South Asian Literature"

Abraham Lincoln photo

“Certainly it is not so easy to pay something as it is to pay nothing, but it is easier to pay a large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And it is easier to pay any sum when we are able than it is to pay it before we are able.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

1860s, Second State of the Union address (1862)

Charles Coughlin photo

“I believe in upholding the right to private property but in controlling it for the public good.”

Charles Coughlin (1891–1979) Catholic priest, radio commentator

Broadcast speech (Nov. 11, 1934)

“We [the U. S. ] think nothing…of attempting to inflict upon other peoples forms of government ill-tailored to their needs.”

Ralph Peters (1952) American military officer, writer, pundit

Source: 2000s, Beyond Terror: Strategy in a Changing World (2002), p. 218

James Madison photo

“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of Government.”

James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)

Federalist No. 10
1780s, Federalist Papers (1787–1788)

François de La Rochefoucauld photo

“The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Le bonheur et le malheur des hommes ne dépend pas moins de leur humeur que de la fortune.
Maxim 61.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Economists tell us that the 'price' of an object and its 'value' have very little or nothing to do with one another. 'Value' is entirely subjective — economic value, anyway — while 'price' reflects whatever a buyer is willing to give up to get the object in question, and whatever the seller is willing to accept to give it up. Both are governed by the Law of Marginal Utility, which is actually a law of psychology, rather than economics. For government to attempt to dictate a 'fair price' betrays complete misunderstanding of the entire process.”

L. Neil Smith (1946) American writer

Ceres, Chapter Eighteen http://www.bigheadpress.com/lneilsmith/?page_id=235, 2009.

Margaret Thatcher photo

“Many senior policemen put greater emphasis on maintaining 'order' than on upholding the law. In practice that meant failing to uphold the rights of individuals against the rule of the mob.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

The Path To Power (1995)

“[T]he real business of men, what promotes their prosperity, is always better done by themselves than by any few separate and distinct individuals, acting as a government in the name of the whole.”

Thomas Hodgskin (1787–1869) British writer

Source: Travels in the North of Germany (1820), p. 292, Vol. 1

Susan B. Anthony photo

“The true republic: men, their rights and nothing more: women, their rights and nothing less.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist

Variant: Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.

Related topics