Ahh Quotes: Wisdom to Protect Freedom: Quotes on the Dangers of Communism and Socialism

Monday, March 3, 2025

Wisdom to Protect Freedom: Quotes on the Dangers of Communism and Socialism

These quotes highlight the dangers of communism and socialism to freedom, power, and property rights. Communism suppresses individual freedoms, and state control infringes on human rights. To ensure freedom and prosperity, we must build a society that respects individual rights and free markets.

● Quotes on the Meaning of Freedom and the Cost of Its Loss

Freedom is a fundamental human right and a core value that protects individual dignity. These quotes reflect on the essence of freedom and the cost of losing it. In a communist society, individual rights can be sacrificed for the state's goals, and true freedom exists only in a society where individual rights and autonomy are respected. Freedom is obtained through effort and sacrifice, and giving up freedom comes at a great cost to individuals and society as a whole. Constant effort and courage are needed to protect freedom, and the meaning of freedom must not be forgotten.

Let me give you my vision.

A man’s right to work as he will to spend what he earns, to own property,

to have the State as servant and not as master; these are the British inheritance.

They are the essence of a free economy.

And on that freedom all our others depend.

- Margaret Thatcher -

Under communism, individuals are merely a means to be used toward the achievement of the ends of the collective nation state. Thus, individuals can be easily sacrificed for the nation state’s goals. - Robert C. O’Brien

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. - George Orwell

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. - Abraham Lincoln

In communism, the individual ends up in subjection to the state. True, the Marxists would argue that the state is an ‘interim’ reality which is to be eliminated when the classless society emerges; but the state is the end while it lasts, and man is only a means to that end. And if man’s so-called rights and liberties stand in the way of that end, they are simply swept aside. His liberties of expression, his freedom to vote, his freedom to listen to what news he likes or to choose his books are all restricted. Man becomes hardly more, in communism, than a depersonalized cog in the turning wheel of the state. - Martin Luther King

● Quotes on Equality in Communism and Capitalism

Communism and liberalism pursue equality in different ways. Communism emphasizes equality of outcome, but it can limit individual freedom and lead to dictatorship. Ultimately, the way equality is pursued shapes the structure of society and the freedoms of individuals.

A common danger tends to concord.

Communism is the exploitation of the strong by the weak.

In Communism, inequality comes from placing mediocrity on a level with excellence.

- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon -

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. - Winston Churchill

A socialist is someone who has nothing and wants to divide it equally among everyone else. - George Bernard Shaw

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but the word equality.

While democracy seeks equality in liberty,

socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.

- Friedrich Hayek -

A society that puts equality—in the sense of equality of outcome—ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests. On the other hand, a society that puts freedom first will, as a happy by-product, end up with both greater freedom and greater equality. - Milton Friedman

The danger of socialism is that it leads to dictatorship. A society in which people are made equal is one in which the government decides who is worthy of liberty and who is not. - Friedrich Hayek, The Road to Serfdom

And look at the National Socialists themselves – see how far they really live by National Socialist principles: for instance, the idea that the common good comes before the individual good. They ask ordinary people to observe that principle but have no intention of doing so themselves. - Wladyslaw Spielmann, The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw

Under socialism, all will be equality, except for the few who govern.

- Albert Einstein -

Four legs good, two legs better! All Animals Are Equal. But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others. - George Orwell, Animal Farm -

● Beware of Communism: Quotes on the Perils of Communism

Contrary to its idealistic goals, communism leads to power corruption, suppression of individual freedom, and economic failure. Historical experiences and warnings clearly demonstrate the dangers of communism. They offer crucial reflections on how these systems threaten freedom.

The road to serfdom is paved with the best of intentions.

- Friedrich Hayek, The road to serfdom -

If we hope and even assume that the social question will be answered through communism, and not in this or that country but in the world, any thought of centralization must be a monstrosity. - Johann Most

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. - Lord Acton

When you consider socialism, do not fool yourself about its nature. Remember that there is no such dichotomy as ‘human rights’ versus ‘property rights.’ No human rights can exist without property rights. - Ayn Rand

The socialists tell us that there are massive profits in a particular industry and they should not go to the shareholders—but that the public should reap the benefits. Benefits? What benefits? When you take into public ownership a profitable industry, the profits soon disappear. The goose that laid the golden eggs goes broody. State geese are not great layers. The steel industry was nationalized some years ago in the public interest—yet the only interest now left to the public is in witnessing the depressing spectacle of their money going down the drain at a rate of a million pounds a day. - Margaret Thatcher