In 2016, I published a book titled Lines of Liberty, which featured great quotations about liberty from those who had been active and important in promoting it. To this day, one of my favorite quotes in that book is from John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty: “The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.”
For that reason, when Leonard Read opened his “Several Facets of Freedom,” Chapter 8 in his 1982 The Path of Duty—his last book—with that quote, it drew my attention instantly. And I found Read’s own opening lines an effective teaser to read more:
The quotation from Mill’s famed essay, On Liberty, published in 1859, captures the essence of freedom. But there are many facets or aspects of the subject that merit elaboration.
Since Leonard Read was always broadening our understanding of liberty, its antecedents, its implications, and its power to benefit all of society, directly and indirectly, it is worth giving his reflections some reflection of our own. So I have put together a top 20 list of my favorite passages from the chapter, dealing with liberty’s connections to knowledge, excellence, influence, merit, competition, justice and optimism.
- The recognition on the part of Socrates that…he knew he knew nothing--the first step toward wisdom--is, from the standpoint of human freedom and prosperity the most important recognition there is.
- Each of us has an infinitesimal bit of knowledge--limited expertise…When the market is free--no restrictions against production and exchange--the tiny bits of know-how possessed by millions of discrete individuals flow naturally and easily, contributing to the prosperity of each. This knowledge is in the market process itself, not in you or me or anyone else--the claims of the know-it-alls to the contrary notwithstanding.
- It is in freedom that one’s knowledge is put to best human use.
- It is not mere quantity of knowledge that counts, for even the most knowledgeable… has a mere glimpse of all that is to be known…excellence includes growth.
- When…the keynote…is excellence, freedom reigns!
- There is no action we take--good or bad--that fails to exert an influence on someone. Thus, the question: How influence others better to understand and explain the free society? The answer: Let anyone who would move mankind toward freedom first move himself!
- Never try to reform another; do not try to forcibly draw others toward your view. Instead, strive for that perfection of understanding and exposition which will cause them to do the reaching.
- He who wishes to exert a useful influence must…concentrate his energies on the creation of what is good. He must not demolish, but build.
- Through the better personal practice of freedom may we attract others to share its blessings.
- Merit, if it be genuine, cannot be concealed…those who are seeking light, the ones who really count—will find true merit. It cannot be hidden for long.
- History reveals that contemporaries see more the man than his merit…respect their merit.
- Many among us insist that man is born for cooperation, not competition—as if these were antagonistic to one another. Such people…they fail to realize that cooperation is only a dream in the absence of competition.
- Genuine competition implies rules, such as the rule of free entry. Free entry in any field of endeavor--the production of goods or the supplying of services or whatever--assures competition, each participant trying to excel.
- Free competition among suppliers results in cooperation with customers…When there is real competition among the bakers of bread, we customers decide whose bread we eat, that is, with whom we will cooperate.
- The goal of competition in the free market is to serve customers better, according to consumer choice. The alternative is coercion…And such a coercive society affords no incentive for self-improvement.
- When there is competition, there are always those out front, setting the pace, leading the way. The effect of this leadership? Others…are inspired to grow. Competition--trying to excel--is the origin of growth; it is the magnet that draws forth each man’s best in the practice of freedom!
- Government, the political arm or agent of society, can have no higher aim than justice for one and all alike.
- The Goddess of Justice is blindfolded; her concern is not with who you are but, rather, with how fairly and honestly one deals with one’s fellowmen.
- Justice conforms to such ideals as The Golden Rule [and] No special privilege for anyone; No violation of the right to the fruits of one’s own labor or the right to act creatively as one chooses.
- A person may vigorously denounce the bad while failing to see the good. This…fails to advance the good…faith that the right will prevail…advances the good.
Few people in history spent more of their lives thinking about and acting to advance liberty than Leonard Read, as befits the founder and long-time leader of the Granddaddy of libertarian think tanks. He saw liberty as vitally important to both our individual growth and our social advance, so he considered everything he could think of that had a bearing on, or relationship to, it. Those thoughts are worth thinking after Read, so that we too might grow in insight and wisdom into liberty and advance society with that growth.
