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Ludwig von Mises Quotes

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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

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 governments.

Ludwig von Mises
Men, Civilization, Evil
Ludwig Von Mises (1985). “Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War”, Libertarian Press

Liberty is meaningless if it is only the liberty to agree with those in power.

Ludwig von Mises
Liberty, Agree, Ifs

The most important thing to remember is that inflation is not an act of God, that inflation is not a catastrophe of the elements or a disease that comes like the plague. Inflation is a policy.

Ludwig von Mises
Important, Elements, Disease
Ludwig Von Mises (2006). “Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow”, p.72, Ludwig von Mises Institute

The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but one a subordinate clerk in a bureau.

Ludwig von Mises
Men, Garden, Blessing
Ludwig von Mises (2016). “Bureaucracy: The Economist”, p.115, VM eBooks

The advocates of public control cannot do without inflation. They need it in order to finance their policy of reckless spending and of lavishly subsidizing and bribing the voters.

Ludwig von Mises
Order, Needs, Voters
Ludwig von Mises (2013). “The Theory of Money and Credit”, p.436, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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
Mean, Liberty, Finals
Ludwig Von Mises (1963). “Human action: a treatise on economics”

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
School, Men, Creative
Ludwig Von Mises (1963). “Human action: a treatise on economics”

Every socialist is a disguised dictator.

Ludwig von Mises
Dictator, Socialist

It is impossible to understand the history of economic thought if one does not pay attention to the fact that economics as such is a challenge to the conceit of those in power.

Ludwig von Mises
Challenges, Doe, Attention
Ludwig von Mises (2016). “Human Action”, p.85, Lulu Press, Inc

Government is the only institution that can take a valuable commodity like paper, and make it worthless by applying ink.

Ludwig von Mises
Government, Ink, Paper

The struggle for freedom is ultimately not resistance to autocrats or oligarchs but resistance to the despotism of public opinion.

Ludwig von Mises
Struggle, Public Opinion, Resistance
Ludwig von Mises (1985). “Theory and History”, p.66, Ludwig von Mises Institute

Every government intervention [in the marketplace] creates unintended consequences, which lead to calls for further government interventions.

Ludwig von Mises
Government, Unintended Consequences, Marketplace

Socialism is not in the least what it pretends to be. It is not the pioneer of a better and finer world, but the spoiler of what thousands of years of civilization have created. It does not build, it destroys. For destruction is the essence of it. It produces nothing, it only consumes what the social order based on private ownership in the means of production has created.

Ludwig von Mises
Mean, Order, Years
Ludwig von Mises (2016). “Socialism - An Economic and Sociological Analysis: The Economist”, p.414, VM eBooks

The most serious dangers for American freedom and the American way of life do not come from without.

Ludwig von Mises
Way, Serious, Danger
Ludwig Von Mises (1990). “Economic freedom and interventionism: an anthology of articles and essays”

The truth is that most people lack the intellectual ability and courage to resist a popular movement, however pernicious and ill-considered.

Ludwig von Mises
Life, People, Intellectual
Ludwig Von Mises (1947). “Planned Chaos”, p.81, Ludwig von Mises Institute

Liberty is always freedom from the government.

Ludwig von Mises
Government, Liberty

The interventionists do not approach the study of economic matters with scientific disinterestedness. Most of them are driven by an envious resentment against those whose incomes are larger than their own. This bias makes it impossible for them to see things as they really are. For them the main thing is not to improve the conditions of the masses, but to harm the entrepreneurs and capitalists even if this policy victimizes the immense majority of the people.

Ludwig von Mises
People, Entrepreneur, Liberty
Ludwig Von Mises (1947). “Planned Chaos”, p.6, Ludwig von Mises Institute

The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments.

Ludwig von Mises
Peace, War, Government
Ludwig Von Mises (1985). “Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War”, Libertarian Press

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
Mean, Men, Prison Guards
Ludwig Von Mises (1990). “Economic freedom and interventionism: an anthology of articles and essays”

The so-called liberals of today have the very popular idea that freedom of speech, of thought, of the press, freedom of religion, freedom from imprisonment without trial-that all these freedoms can be preserved in the absence of what is called economic freedom. They do not realize that, in a system where there is no market, where the government directs everything, all those other freedoms are illusory, even if they are made into laws and written up in constitutions.

Ludwig von Mises
Freedom, Ideas, Government
Ludwig Von Mises (2006). “Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow”, p.18, Ludwig von Mises Institute

Whoever wishes peace among peoples must fight statism.

Ludwig von Mises
War, Fighting, Wish

Depressions and mass unemployment are not caused by the free market but by government interference in the economy.

Ludwig von Mises
Government, Liberty, Unemployment

[E]conomic history is a long record of government policies that failed because they were designed with a bold disregard for the laws of economics

Ludwig von Mises
Government, Law, Long
Ludwig Von Mises (1963). “Human action: a treatise on economics”

Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer.

Ludwig von Mises
Men, Liberty, Politics

To the grumbler who complains about the unfairness of the market system only one piece of advice can be given: If you want to acquire wealth, then try to satisfy the public by offering them something that is cheaper or which they like better....Equality under the law gives you the power to challenge every millionaire.

Ludwig von Mises
Equality Under The Law, Offering, Giving

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