Authors:

Ludwig von Mises Quotes - Page 4

All Quotes Achievement Acting Age Art Attitude Big Business Business Capitalism Choices Community Competition Constitution Country Democracy Desire Determination Dictator Dictatorship Economics Economy Effort Environment Envy Evil Exercise Failing Fate Fighting Freedom Genius Giving Gold Growth Human Nature Hurt Ideology Individualism Inflation Innovation Labor Liberalism Liberty Life Loss Magic Making Money Management Mankind Money Morality Office Past Peace Philosophy Planning Police Politics Poverty Progress Property Prosperity Quality Reality Revolution Running Santa Claus School Socialism Society Sovereignty Struggle Study Suffering Teaching Today Trade Tyranny Violence War Wealth Welfare Well Being
Historical knowledge is indispensable for those who want to build a better world

Historical knowledge is indispensable for those who want to build a better world

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

Louis XIV was very frank and sincere when he said: I am the State. The modern statist is modest. He says: I am the servant of the State; but, he implies, the State is God. You could revolt against a Bourbon king, and the French did it. This was, of course, a struggle of man against man. But you cannot revolt against the god State and against his humble handy man, the bureaucrat.

Ludwig von Mises
Kings, Struggle, Humble

My theories explain, but cannot slow the decline of a great civilization. I set out to be a reformer, but only became the historian of decline.

Ludwig von Mises
Civilization, Decline, Theory

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
Freedom, Philosophy, War

The superiority of the gold standard consists in the fact that the value of gold develops independent of political actions.

Ludwig von Mises
Independent, Political, Gold
Ludwig Von Mises (1978). “On the Manipulation of Money and Credit”, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. : Free Market Books

where Nietzsche's response to the equation of socialism and morality was to question the value of morality, at least as it had been customarily understood, economists like Mises and Hayek pursued a different path, one Nietzsche would never have dared to take: they made the market the very expression of morality.

Ludwig von Mises
Expression, Path, Different

The mark of the creative mind is that it defies a part of what it has learned.

Ludwig von Mises
Creative, Mind, Mark
Ludwig von Mises (2016). “An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution: The Economist”, p.187, VM eBooks

The root of the evil is not the construction of new, more dreadful weapons. It is the spirit of conquest.

Ludwig von Mises
Peace, War, Roots

What pushes the masses into the camp of socialism is, even more than the illusion that socialism will make them richer, the expectation that it will curb all those who are better than they themselves are.

Ludwig von Mises
Envy, Expectations, Socialism
Ludwig Von Mises (1962). “The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method”

Capitalism means free enterprise, sovereignty of the consumers in economic matters, and sovereignty of the voters in political matters. Socialism means full government control of every sphere of the individuals life and the unrestricted supremacy of the government in its capacity as central board of production management.

Ludwig von Mises
Mean, Government, Political
Ludwig Von Mises (1944). “Bureaucracy”

Planning other people's actions means to prevent them from planning for themselves, means to deprive them of their essentially human quality, means enslaving them.

Ludwig von Mises
Freedom, Mean, People
Ludwig Von Mises (1962). “The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method”

Depression is the aftermath of credit expansion.

Ludwig von Mises
Expansion, Aftermath, Credit
Ludwig Von Mises (1974). “Planning for freedom, and twelve other essays and addresses”

Taxing profits is tantamount to taxing success.

Ludwig von Mises
Profit
Ludwig Von Mises, Murray Newton Rothbard (1980). “Planning for freedom, and sixteen other essays and addresses”, Libertarian Press, Incorporated

Government means always coercion and compulsion and is by necessity the opposite of liberty. Government is a guarantor of liberty and is compatible with liberty only if its range is adequately restricted to the preservation of economic freedom. Where there is no market economy, the best-intentioned provisions of constitutions and laws remain a dead letter.

Ludwig von Mises
Mean, Government, Law
Ludwig Von Mises (1990). “Economic freedom and interventionism: an anthology of articles and essays”

What pays under capitalism is satisfying the common man, the customer. The more people you satisfy, the better for you.

Ludwig von Mises
Men, People, Liberty

Under a socialist mode of production all personal incentives which selfishness provides under capitalism are removed, and a premium is put upon laziness and negligence. Whereas in a capitalist society selfishness incites everyone to the utmost diligence, in a socialist society it makes for inertia and laxity.

Ludwig von Mises
Selfishness, Incentives, Laziness

There is no means by which anyone can evade his personal responsibility. Whoever neglects to examine to the best of his abilities all the problems involved voluntarily surrenders his birthright to a selfappointed elite of supermen. In such vital matters blind reliance upon 'experts' and uncritical acceptance of popular catchwords and prejudices is tantamount to the abandonment of self-determination and to yielding to other people's domination. As conditions are today, nothing can be more important to every intelligent man than economics. His own fate and that of his progeny are at stake.

Ludwig von Mises
Determination, Mean, Responsibility
"Human Action". Book by Ludwig von Mises, 1949.

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
Men, Average, People
Ludwig Von Mises (1978). “Anti-Capitalistic Mentality, The”, p.49, Ludwig von Mises Institute

The final outcome of the credit expansion is general impoverishment.

Ludwig von Mises
Expansion, Finals, Credit

Every innovation makes its appearance as a 'luxury' of the few well-to-do. After industry has become aware of it, the luxury then becomes a 'necessity' for all.

Ludwig von Mises
Luxury, Innovation, Appearance

So far as Feminism seeks to adjust the legal position of woman to that of man, so far as it seeks to offer her legal and economic freedom to develop and act in accordance with her inclinations, desires, and economic circumstances—so far it is nothing more than a branch of the great liberal movement, which advocates peaceful and free evolution.

Ludwig von Mises
Men, Peaceful, Feminism
Ludwig von Mises (2016). “Socialism - An Economic and Sociological Analysis: The Economist”, p.76, VM eBooks

The riches of successful entrepreneurs is not the cause of anybody's poverty; it is the consequence of the fact that the consumers are better supplied than they would have been in the absence of the entrepreneur's efforts.

Ludwig von Mises
Successful, Entrepreneur, Effort
Ludwig Von Mises, Murray Newton Rothbard (1980). “Planning for freedom, and sixteen other essays and addresses”, Libertarian Press, Incorporated

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
Exercise, Thinking, Evil

Many who are self-taught far excel the doctors, masters, and bachelors of the most renowned universities.

Ludwig von Mises
Hard Work, Doctors, Self
Ludwig von Mises (1985). “Theory and History”, p.263, Ludwig von Mises Institute

The philosophy of protectionism is a philosophy of war. The wars of our age are not at variance with popular economic doctrines; they are, on the contrary, the inescapable result of a consistent application of these doctrines.

Ludwig von Mises
Philosophy, War, Age

You May Also Like: