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.

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.

We believe that human happiness requires freedom and that freedom requires limited government.

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

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

Illegitimacy is the single most important social problem of our time - more important than crime, drugs, poverty, illiteracy, welfare or homelessness because it drives everything else.

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.