When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.
[Lorsque la Spoliation est devenue le moyen d’existence d’une agglomération d’hommes unis entre eux par le lien social, ils se font bientôt une loi qui la sanctionne, une morale qui la glorifie.]
Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) French philosopher, economist, politician
Economic Sophisms [Sophismes économiques], 2nd Series, ch. 1 “Physiology of plunder Physiologie de la spoliation” (1848)
(Source)
Alt. trans. "When Spoliation has become the means of existence of an agglomeration of men united by social bonds, they soon make themselves a law which sanctions it, a morality which glorifies it."
