rights of property

The so-called "rights of property"; that is, what a man can own and what gives him the right to own it, is the subject of a great deal of discussion. Answers vary from the frank statement that he has a right to anything that he can lay hands on, the standard of both the gunman and a certain type of capitalist, to the definition of Proudhon, the radical economist, that property is theft. The latter of these is at least nearer true than the former, for man's right to possess should rest on his ability to use the possession unselfishly.

 -Dr. E. W. J. Gould