Frank Chodorov Quotes
Freedom is a personal experience; a free society is an association of free individuals, nothing else. Freedom consists simply in the absence of external restraints on thought and behavior. Yet, because the individual, in his efforts to improve upon his circumstances, not infrequently transgresses the equal freedom of his fellow man, restraint becomes a necessary condition of social living; it is the means of maintaining an equilibrium, or justice.
Frank Chodorov, 1887-1966, Editor of Political Journals, Founder, Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, United We Fall, 1950
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
While this statement and others like it, appear reasonable to most people, in practice most societies impose a different standard. They often do not want the only limitation on freedom to be refraining from impinging on the liberty of others. They often want to impose a morality on the society. Gay marriage is a good example. If a gay couple weds, there is no impingement on the liberty to marry of straight people. None-the-less, many opposed it.
This quotation has frequently been used by opponents of government regulation of alcohol and other drugs.
This was one of the first scholarly analysis of the history, psychology, and culture of the American Western Frontiersman. It is still considered one of the best.
Frank Chodorov was an American member of the Old Right, a group of libertarian thinkers who were non-interventionist in foreign policy and opposed to both the American entry into World War II and the New Deal. He was called by Ralph Raico "the last of the Old Right greats."
