The most troubling aspect of social policy towards the poor in late 20th century America is or how much it costs, but what it has bought.

Give people plenty and security, and they will fall into spiritual torpor.

When life becomes an extended picnic, with nothing of importance to do, ideas of greatness become an irritant. Such is the nature of the Europe syndrome.

People need self-respect, but self-respect must be earned - it cannot be self-respect if it's not earned - and the only way to earn anything is to achieve it in the face of the possibility of failing.

The welfare state is an enemy of private property. The excessive taxation used to support the welfare state is extremely dangerous.

We tried to provide more for the poor and produced more poor instead. We tried to remove the barriers to escape poverty, and inadvertently built a trap.

The reason welfare is bad is not because it costs too much, nor because it "undermines the work ethic," but because it is intrinsically at odds with the way human beings come to live satisfying lives.