Ludwig von Mises
self-taught autodidact doctor master bachelor
“Many who are self-taught far excel the doctors, masters, and bachelors of the most renowned universities.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
rational action individual think reason
“All rational action is in the first place individual action. Only the individual thinks. Only the individual reasons. Only the individual acts.”
principle government protect foolishness encroachment
“Once the principle is admitted that it is the duty of the government to protect the individual against his own foolishness, no serious objections can be advanced against further encroachments.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
unfit serve citizen rule
“He who is unfit to serve his fellow citizens wants to rule them.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
masses surpass dislike average different
“The masses do not like those who surpass them in any regard. The average man envies and hates those who are different.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
worship state force menace civilization government corrut
“The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be and has often been in the course of history the main source of mischief and disaster.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
totalitarianism freedom thought speech
“It is vain to fight totalitarianism by adopting totalitarian methods. Freedom can only be won by men unconditionally committed to the principles of freedom. The first requisite for a better social order is the return to unrestricted freedom of thought and speech.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
socialist disguise dictator
“Every socialist is a disguised dictator.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
freedo indivisible decline
“Freedom is indivisible. As soon as one starts to restrict it, one enters upon a decline on which it is difficult to stop.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
free market civilization Führer dictator
“The market system is the basis of our civilization. Its only alternative is the Führer principle.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
capitalism olanning absolutism dictatorship
“Every step which leads from capitalism toward planning is necessarily a step nearer to absolutism and dictatorship.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
inequality wealth feature free market economy
“Inequality of wealth and incomes is an essential feature of the market economy. It is the implement that makes the consumers supreme in giving them the power to force all those engaged in production to comply with their orders. It forces all those engaged in production to the utmost exertion in the service of the consumers. It makes competition work. He who best serves the consumers profits most and accumulates
riches.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
struggle freedom autocrat oligark despotism public opiion
“The struggle for freedom is ultimately not resistance to autocrats or oligarchs but resistance to the despotism of public opinion.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
war prosperity earthquake plague
“War prosperity is like the prosperity that an earthquake or a plague brings.”
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
Keynesianism saving capital accumulation
"The essence of Keynesianism is its complete failure to conceive the role that saving and capital accumulation play in the improvement of economic conditions."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
worst evils mankind government
"The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
innovator creative genius school
"Innovators and creative geniuses cannot be reared in schools. They are precisely the men who defy what the school has taught them."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
collapse boom credit expansion catastrophe currency
"There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
american USA public opinion free market government control
"There is no use in deceiving ourselves. American public opinion rejects the market economy, the capitalistic free enterprise system that provided the nation with the highest standard of living ever attained. Full government control of all activities of the individual is virtually the goal of both national parties."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
struggle freedom minority majority
"The struggle for freedom is not the struggle of the many against the few, but of minorities, sometimes of a minority of but one man gainst the majority."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
issue government market
"The issue is always the same: the government or the market. There is no third solution."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
government interference violence army police guards prison
"It is important to remember that government interference always means either violent action or the threat of such action. Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen. The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning. Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
capitalism propaganda apostles deiver goods
"Capitalism needs neither propaganda nor apostles. Its achievements speak for themselves. Capitalism delivers the goods."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
planner dictator
"The planner is a potential dictator who wants to deprive all other people of the power to plan and act according to their own plans. He aims at one thing only: the exclusive absolute preeminence of his own plan."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
depression unemployment government interference
"Depressions and mass unemployment are not caused by the free market but by government interference in the economy."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
economic progress avers entrepreneur capital
"Economic progress is the work of the savers, who accumulate capital, and of the entrepreneurs, who turn capital to new uses."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
bureaucrat office decree positive measure
"Only to bureaucrats can the idea occur that establishing new offices, promulgating new decrees, and increasing the number of government employees alone can be described as positive and beneficial measures."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
government interference compulsion freedom
"Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
capitalism mass production standard of living
"Capitalism is essentially a system of mass production for the satisfaction of the needs of the masses. It pours a horn of plenty upon the common man. It has raised the average standard of living to a height never dreamed of in earlier ages. It has made accessible to millions of people enjoyments which a few generations ago were only within the reach of a small élite."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
war nationalism protectionism
"What generates war is the economic philosophy of nationalism: embargoes, trade and foreign exchange controls, monetary devaluation, etc. The philosophy of protectionism is a philosophy of war."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
government paper worthlss ink
"Government is the only institution that can take a valuable commodity like paper, and make it worthless by applying ink."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
economics material objects men meaning action
Economics is not about things and tangible material objects; it is about men, their meanings and actions.
evil weapon spirit conquest
"The root of the evil is not the construction of new, more dreadful weapons. It is the spirit of conquest."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
people coooperate division labor interest right freedom
"People do not cooperate under the division of labor because they love or should love one another. They cooperate because this best serves their own interests. Neither love nor charity nor any other sympathetic sentiments but rightly understood selfishness is what originally impelled man to adjust himself to the requirements of society, to respect the rights and freedoms of his fellow men and to substitute peaceful collaboration for enmity and conflict."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
battle force idea
"In a battle between force and an idea, the latter always prevails."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
power general good evil
"Some think that they will exercise power for the general good, but that is what all those with power have believed. Power is evil in itself, regardless of who exercises it."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
government negation liberty
"Government is essentially the negation of liberty."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
freedom mistakes
"Freedom really means the freedom to make mistakes."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
market democracy penny vote
"The market is a democracy in which every penny gives a right to vote."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
bureaucracy cabinet bureau
"In all countries with a settled bureaucracy people used to say: The cabinets come and go, but the bureaus remain."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
bureaucrat innovator innovatin bureaucracy
"Nobody can be at the same time a correct bureaucrat and an innovator."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
bureaucracy violence
"The ultimate basis of an all around bureaucratic system is violence."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
bureaucratic rigidity government meddling business
"The trend toward bureaucratic rigidity is not inherent in the evolution of business. It is an outcome of government meddling with business."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
bureaucrat improvement rules regulations obedience
"The bureaucrat is not free to aim at improvement. He is bound to obey rules and regulations established by a superior body. He has no right to embark upon innovations if his superiors do not approve of them. His duty and his virtue is to be obedient."
― Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)