[T]he crucial question is not, as so many believe, whether property rights should be private or governmental, but rather whether the necessarily 'private' owners are legitimate owners or criminals. For ultimately, there is no entity called 'government'; there are only people forming themselves into groups called 'governments' and acting in a 'governmental' manner. All property is therefore always 'private'; the only and critical question is whether it should reside in the hands of criminals or of the proper and legitimate owners.
Murray RothbardBehind the honeyed but patently absurd pleas for equality is a ruthless drive for placing themselves (the elites) at the top of a new hierarchy of power.
Murray RothbardThe libertarian must never advocate or prefer a gradual, as opposed to an immediate and rapid, approach to his goal. For by doing so, he undercuts the overriding importance of his own goals and principles. And if he himself values his own goals so lightly, how highly will others value them.
Murray RothbardIt is easy to be conspicuously 'compassionate' if others are being forced to pay the cost.
Murray RothbardAll interstate wars intensify aggression โ maximize it โฆ some wars are even more unjust than others. In other words, all government wars are unjust, although some governments have less unjust claims.
Murray RothbardIf we look around, then, at the crucial problem areas of our society - the areas of crisis and failure - we find in each and every case a โred threadโ marking and uniting them all: the thread of government. In every one of these cases, government either has totally run or heavily influenced the activity.
Murray Rothbard