We cannot prevent the existence of unsatisfied desires in the hearts of men. We cannot satisfy these desires except by labor. We cannot deny the fact that man has as much repugnance for labor as he has satisfaction with its results. Since man has such characteristics, we cannot prevent the existence of a constant tendency among men to obtain their part of the enjoyments of life while throwing upon others, by force or by trickery, the burdens of labor. It is not for us to belie universal history, to silence the voice of the past, which attests that this has been the condition of things since the beginning of the world. We cannot deny that war, slavery, superstition, the abuses of government, privileges, frauds of every nature, and monopolies, have been the incontestable and terrible manifestations of these two sentiments united in the heart of man: desire for enjoyment; repugnance to labor...every one wants as much bread and as little sweat as possible. This is the conclusion of history.

Among [the] instincts or desires [of normal men] is the desire to live, the desire to serve each his own welfare and that of his offspring, and the desire to decide for himself what will best serve that welfare...he has the instinct of acquisitiveness...and especially does he have a natural instinct and desire to possess and control exclusively for himself whatever, much or little, he has wrenched from nature or otherwise obtained by the exercise of his various powers...If one is balked or hindered in the gratification of any of these desires, there is excited in him a feeling of resentment against the cause.

EMERY, LUCILIUS A., Concerning Justice, Chapter III, The Problem of Rights Continued

Is not this instinctive feeling of resentment at interference with one’s person, liberty, or property, the rudiment of a later developed idea, or sentiment, of rights possessed?...Granting that nature has not endowed man with rights, it has imbued him with a belief that he has rights, and also with a disposition to defend them.

EMERY, LUCILIUS A., Concerning Justice, Chapter III, The Problem of Rights Continued

[T]he nature of the average man today is such that he will not toil and deny himself without prospect of rewards to accrue to himself for his own personal use. He will not strive to earn and then conserve his earnings unless he can have them for his own, to control, use and dispose of at his pleasure. However it may be with a few unselfish, devoted souls, men as a rule are not yet so altruistic as to devote themselves exclusively to the good of others, of society.

EMERY, LUCILIUS A., Concerning Justice, Chapter III, The Problem of Rights Continued

[I]f the impelling natural desire to serve one’s self be wholly or even largely disregarded by society, little would be produced or saved by voluntary labor and self-denial. The alternative would be the restoration of some system of enforced labor, of slavery, for the vast majority of men. At this day, after centuries of exhortation to practice the virtues of benevolence, of brotherly love, of self-sacrifice for the good of others, men do not from pure love of humanity voluntarily endure heat and cold, expend their labor and savings working in mines, in braving seas, in building and operating factories, railroads and steamships, in growing corn and cotton.

EMERY, LUCILIUS A., Concerning Justice, Chapter III, The Problem of Rights Continued

Never appeal to a man’s better nature, he may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.

Any society to be successful must secure the effort and initiative of its citizens...To meet its needs and to advance its civilization it must encourage the impulses which motivate the individual to action and achievement. Therefore any workable philosophy of society or framework of government must take account of the raw materials of human nature.

Governments are bodies of men, and all bodies of men act similarly under similar circumstances, if the power is allowed them. All absolutism is the same.

LIEBER, FRANCIS, On Civil Liberty and Self-Government (1853), Chapter IX

The ultimate goal of human actions is always the satisfaction of the acting man’s desire. There is no standard of greater or lesser satisfaction other than individual judgments of value, different for various people and for the same people at various times.

Notwithstanding all declarations to the contrary, the immense majority of men aim first of all at an improvement of the material conditions of well-being. They want more and better food, better homes and clothes, and a thousand other amenities. They strive after abundance and health.

What impels every man to the utmost exertion in the service of his fellow men and curbs innate tendencies toward arbitrariness and malice is, in the market, not compulsion and coercion on the part of gendarmes, hangmen, and penal courts; it is self-interest. The member of a contractual society is free because he serves others only in serving himself. What restrains him is only the inevitable natural phenomenon of scarcity. For the rest he is free in the range of the market.

Where self-interest is suppressed, it is replaced by a burdensome system of bureaucratic control that dries up the wellsprings of initiative and creativity.

The human characteristic required by statism is docility.

The moral justification of capitalism does not lie in the altruist claim that it represents the best way to achieve the 'common good.' It is true that capitalism does--if that catch phrase has any meaning--but this is merely a secondary consequence. The moral justification for capitalism lies in the fact that it is the only system consonant with man's rational nature, that it protects man's survival qua man, and that its ruling principle is: justice.

I rest my case rather on the consistency of the free market with man's essential nature, on the basic morality of its system of rewards and punishments, on the protection it gives to the integrity of the individual.

[H]uman energies simply do not function in the manner of the bee swarm, and any attempt to govern the actions of multitudes of men always results in oppressive power being placed in the hands of the few.