Robert LeFevre quotes

And thus we see the government is at once both protector and predator. It is not that governments begin in virtue only to end in sin. Government begins by protecting some against others and ends up protecting itself against everyone. This is the course of history. (Robert LeFevre)
Government, when it is examined, turns out to be nothing more nor less than a group of fallible men with the political force to act as though they were infallible.
Robert LeFevre
If you have a government of good laws and bad men, you will have a bad government. For bad men will not be bound by good laws.
Robert LeFevre
Since I favor total self-control-absolute government of the individual over himself-I believe autarchy more accurately describes, in a positive fashion, the kind of situation I consider most desirable. Some dictionaries define autarchy as a kind of tyranny or despotism, but of necessity it is limited to self-application.
Robert LeFevre
Does government protection protect? It doesn't do anything of the sort. It takes vengeance in your name after you've been hurt and calls it protection.
Robert LeFevre
Very few men advocate government control over themselves. But they constantly believe that others must be controlled by some outside force.
Robert LeFevre
We know that men cannot be compelled to be good. They can only be prevented from being bad-a negative condition. We know from bitter experience that men cannot be forced into doing the wise thing, for such a forcement is foolishness.
Robert LeFevre
Now, where did we ever get the idea that there is such a thing as 'good government?' That is a contradiction in terms as ridiculous as 'constructive rape.
Robert LeFevre
The aim of the anarchist is to eliminate private ownership.
Robert LeFevre
The family unit is the incubator for human character; the state is the incubator for human dependency.
Robert LeFevre
What you want is protection. You want to be safe. What the government does is to try to retaliate after the fact. (Robert LeFevre)
So the thing I object to about government isn't its organizational feature. Organization has to be accomplished. It is the coercive nature of government organization. My argument is that we can organize better without coercion.
Robert LeFevre
Very few crooks perform with a police audience.
Robert LeFevre
If people are capable of committing evil deeds, then the people occupying the offices of government will be cut from the same cloth. They are evildoers, too. There is not a single shred of evidence that they will be otherwise.
Robert LeFevre
I demonstrated that slavery is rationalized, under the name of government and politics, because of the belief that if we didn't enslave others, the others would enslave us. Thus, we practice slavery on some in order that others should be free.
Robert LeFevre
In order to convince the world to worship government, those within its presumably divine channels of rule had to create an image of superiority. Early governments did so by invoking fear and terror. This is not surprising. Early deities were ruthless, vindictive, and cruel.
Robert LeFevre
All governments behave like any other instrument of war and terror. A gun doesn't change it nature. When it is aimed at someone you fear or dislike, you will praise the importance of guns. When the gun is aimed at you, you will call for help against those who use guns.
Robert LeFevre
The nature of man is such that he tends to believe what he wants to believe. Whether it is true or not usually provides only a brief hesitation. Men believe on the basis of their likes and dislikes. Unfortunately, much of what we believe to be true may be partially true. Absolute truth or absolute falsehood is rare. A total falsehood is easier to detect than a partial falsehood. Even a total truth is totally true only in context.
Robert LeFevre
The single merit I can claim at this junction is that I am not seeking to obtain agreement. I am seeking only to outline the reality that exists, not to win support, start a movement, or contrive concurrence. The reason is clear. It can't be done. Additionally I do not know everything. Therefore, I can be wrong. What evil I could impose if I obtain agreement on a point that happened to be in error! I do not intend to be wrong, but the mind and the memory are both fallible. So I propose to set down what is so, to the degree I am capable of recognizing it.
Robert LeFevre
Hundreds if not thousands of zealots seeking ever to create universal harmony and understanding, have offered their particular theology as the truth faith. The justification has been that, once men all agree on a particular series of concepts or beliefs, they will stop imposing on one another. To date, this effort has also fallen short.
Robert LeFevre
The man who knows what freedom means will find a way to be free. (Robert LeFevre)
If men are capable of committing evil actions, granting them power over others makes evil actions certain. But there is a difference. When men in government commit and evil act, they are legally shielded from their consequences of the act.
Robert LeFevre
It is strange that many believe they cannot control themselves, but they can control others.
Robert LeFevre
Politics may be defined as: the method adopted in governments for obtaining motivation toward a monopoly. In all political actions, a monopoly of control and method is sought.
Robert LeFevre
The bill of grievances contained in the immortal Declaration of Independence could be extended by our own citizens in modern times, had they the stomach for it. ... So important is the right and duty of the people to dispense with despotism, this great Declaration contains the sentence not once, but twice. In its final utterance, the choice of words does not call for the formation of a government. Rather, it calls for "new guards" which may or may not entail such a unit as an artificial agency.
Robert LeFevre