On the record
All the other modes, by which one man has ever attempted to acquire the property of another, have been thefts, robberies, and frauds.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “All the other modes, by which one man has ever attempted to acquire the property of another, have been thefts…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner condemns other methods of acquiring property as theft or fraud.
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More from Lysander Spooner
They do not tell us that all liberty and order would be destroyed, that society itself would go to pieces, and man go back to barbarism, if it were not for the care, and supervision, and protection, they lavish upon us.
They do not tell us of the almshouses, hospitals, schools, churches, etc., which, out of the purest charity and benevolence, they maintain for our benefit, out of the money they take from us.
They do not attempt to deceive us, or mislead us, or reconcile us to their doings, by any such pretences, impostures, or insults as these.
In short, they acknowledge themselves hostes humani generis: enemies of the human race.