“All that the sovereign people, legislators, and reformers see in public office is, to speak plainly, their own benefit.”

Source: What is Property? (1840), Ch. I

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Pierre Joseph Proudhon 40
French politician, mutualist philosopher, economist, and so… 1809–1865

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“The office of the sovereign, be it a monarch or an assembly, consisteth in the end for which he was trusted with the sovereign power, namely the procuration of the safety of the people, to which he is obliged by the law of nature”

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Context: The office of the sovereign, be it a monarch or an assembly, consisteth in the end for which he was trusted with the sovereign power, namely the procuration of the safety of the people, to which he is obliged by the law of nature, and to render an account thereof to God, the Author of that law, and to none but Him. But by safety here is not meant a bare preservation, but also all other contentments of life, which every man by lawful industry, without danger or hurt to the Commonwealth, shall acquire to himself.
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