Frédéric Bastiat：Economic Sophisms, Excerpt 267

May God protect us from the devil and from metaphors! was the exclamation of Paul-Louis. And it is difficult to say which of them has done most mischief in this world of ours. The devil, you will say; for he has put the spirit of plunder into all our hearts. True, but he has left free the means of repressing abuses by the resistance of those who suffer from them. It is the sophism which paralyzes this resistance. The sword which malice puts into the hands of assailants would be powerless, did sophistry not break the buckler which should shield the party assailed. It was with reason, therefore, that Malebranche inscribed on the title-page of his work this sentence: _L'erreur est la cause de la misère des hommes_.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44145
Locator：Excerpt 267 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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