“The government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.”
What this quote means
Molinari, a 19th-century liberal thinker, exposes the state as a collective illusion. Everyone seeks to benefit from it, but the outcome is that everyone loses. This resonates in debates about taxation, subsidies, and privileges. It prompts us to examine our own relationship with the state and the temptation to live at others' expense, often in the name of the common good.
How to apply it daily
Once this week, identify a state benefit you enjoy (subsidy, protection, etc.) and ask yourself if you truly deserve it or if it comes at the expense of other citizens.
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