On human nature and history..........

 

     We cannot prevent insatiable desires from springing up in the heart of man.

     We cannot arrange things so that no work is required for these desires to be satisfied.

     We cannot avoid the fact that man's reluctance to work is as strong as his desire to have his needs satisfied.

     We cannot prevent the fact that, as a result of this state of affairs, there is a constant effort by men to increase their share of enjoyment while each of them tries by force or by fraud to throw the burden of labor onto the shoulders of his fellows.

     It is not up to us to wipe out universal history, to stifle the voice of the past that attests that things have been like this from the outset.  We cannot deny that war, slavery, serfdom, theocracy, abuse by government, privileges, frauds of all kinds, and monopolies have been the incontrovertible and terrible manifestations of these two sentiments that ar4e intertwined in the hearts of men:  attraction to pleasure, avoidance of pain.

     "By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread."  But everyone wants as much bread and as little sweat as possible.  This is the conclusion of history.

-Frédéric Bastiat, Economic Sophisms, Second Series, 1847ish