"The holders of authority are...ready to spare us all sort of troubles, except those of obeying and paying! They will say to us: 'What, i n the end, is the aim of your efforts, the motive of your labours, the object of all your hopes? Is it not happiness? Well, leave this happiness to us and we shall give it to you.' No sirs, we must not leave it to them. No matter how touching such a tender commitment may be, let us ask the authorities to keep within their limits. Let them confine themselves to being just. We shall assume the responsibility of being happy ourselves."
Benjamin Constant
Liberty of the Ancients Compared to that of the Moderns
1816
Quoted at http://www.cafehayek.com/ and available at http://www.uark.edu/depts/comminfo/cambridge/ancients.html
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