Send a Quote Enter a brief message. SendOk2 “The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.” ~ Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) [Claude Frederic Bastiat] French economist, statesman, and author. He did most of his writing during the years just before -- and immediately following -- the French Revolution of February 1848Source: "The State", Journal des débats, issue of September 25, 1848 (in Selected Essays on Political Economy) par. 5.20https://www.econlib.org/library/Bastiat/basEss.html?chapter_num=8