The first man who, having fenced off a plot of land, thought of saying, 'This is mine' and found people simple enough to believe him was the real founder of civil society. How many crimes, wars, murders, how many miseries and horrors might the human race have been spared by the one who, upon pulling up the stakes or filling in the ditch, had shouted to his fellow men: 'Beware of listening to this imposter; you are lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to all and that the earth belongs to no one.' ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The equal right of all men to the use of land is as clear as their equal right to breathe the air — it is a right proclaimed by the fact of their existence. For we cannot suppose that some men have a right to be in this world, and others no right. ~ Henry George

Real estate is property in land, along with its natural resources and immovable property.

Quotes

  • How far, O rich, do you extend your senseless avarice? Do you intend to be the sole inhabitants of the earth? Why do you drive out the fellow sharers of nature, and claim it all for yourselves? The earth was made for all, rich and poor, in common. Why do you rich claim it as your exclusive right? The soil was given to the rich and poor in common—wherefore, oh, ye rich, do you unjustly claim it for yourselves alone? Nature gave all things in common for the use of all; usurpation created private rights. Property hath no rights. The earth is the Lord's, and we are his offspring. The pagans hold earth as property. They do blaspheme God.
  • Men did not make the earth... It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property. ... Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds.
  • Buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff.
    • Will Rogers as quoted in Land in America : Its Value, Use, and Control (1981) by Peter M. Wolf, p. 6
    • Unsourced variant: Buy land, they aren't making any more of it.
  • The first man who, having fenced off a plot of land, thought of saying, 'This is mine' and found people simple enough to believe him was the real founder of civil society. How many crimes, wars, murders, how many miseries and horrors might the human race have been spared by the one who, upon pulling up the stakes or filling in the ditch, had shouted to his fellow men: 'Beware of listening to this imposter; you are lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to all and that the earth belongs to no one.
  • Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Didn't the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?
    • Tecumseh, in The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Old West (1999) by Mike Flanagan, p. 94

See also

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