Judith Wright
Australian poet, environmentalist and Indigenous rights campaigner
Frederic Bastiat
French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly (1801-1850)
Claude-Frederic Bastiatwas a French economist, writer and a prominent member of the French Liberal School.
A member of the French National Assembly, Bastiat developed the economic concept of opportunity cost and introduced the parable of the broken window.
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About the Frederic Bastiat
Claude-Frederic Bastiatwas a French economist, writer and a prominent member of the French Liberal School.
A member of the French National Assembly, Bastiat developed the economic concept of opportunity cost and introduced the parable of the broken window. He was described as “the most brilliant economic journalist who ever lived” by economic theorist Joseph Schumpeter.
As an advocate of classical economics and the economics of Adam Smith, his views favored a free market and influenced the Austrian School. He is best known for his book The Law, where he argued that law must protect rights such as private property, not “plunder” others’ property.
8 Quotes by Frederic Bastiat
- 1.
Each of us has a natural right, from God, to defend his person, his liberty, and his property.
Frederic BastiatFrench classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly (1801-1850)
- 2.
When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will.
Frederic BastiatFrench classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly (1801-1850)
- 3.
Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.
Frederic BastiatFrench classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly (1801-1850)
- 4.
Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.
Frederic BastiatFrench classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly (1801-1850)
- 5.
Often the masses are plundered and do not know it.
Frederic BastiatFrench classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly (1801-1850)
- 6.
Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
Frederic BastiatFrench classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly (1801-1850)
- 7.
They will come to learn in the end, at their own expense, that it is better to endure competition for rich customers than to be invested with monopoly over impoverished customers.
Frederic BastiatFrench classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly (1801-1850)
- 8.
The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.
Frederic BastiatFrench classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly (1801-1850)