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Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises Quotes

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Famous Ludwig von Mises Quotes

“The standard of living of the common man is higher in those countries which have the greatest number of wealthy entrepreneurs.”

MenCountryCommonNumbersLibertyHigherStandardsEconomicsGoldEntrepreneurLibertarianWealthyLibertarianismStandards Of LivingCommon ManGreat Libertarian
Book:Planning for Freedom: Let the Market System Work : a Collection of Essays and Addresses
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“History has witnessed the failure of many endeavors to impose peace by war, cooperation by coercion, unanimity by slaughtering dissidents.... A lasting order cannot be established by bayonets.”

WarOrderMoneyLibertarianLastingEndeavorCooperationAnti WarAntiwarCoercionPeace WarGreat WarMake Peace Not WarDissidentsPeace Not WarBayonetsUnanimityCost Of War
Book:Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War
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“The direction of all economic affairs is in the market society a task of the entrepreneurs. Theirs is the control of production. They are at the helm and steer the ship. A superficial observer would believe that they are supreme. But they are not. They are bound to obey unconditionally the captain's orders.”

PeopleShouldBelieveOrderPoorQualityLibertyRichEconomicEconomicsTasksEntrepreneurBoundsAffairDetermineProductionsSupremeShipsConsumersQuantityCaptainsSuperficialPoor PeopleObserversRich PeopleSteersHelm
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“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.”

IfsWantGivingTryingLawGivenChallengesWealthLibertyPiecesEconomicAdviceEconomicsComplainingAcquireOfferingMillionaireCheaperOne PieceUnfairnessEquality Under The Law
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“The "progressives" who today masquerade as "liberals" may rant against "fascism"; yet it is their policy that paves the way for Hitlerism. Nothing could have been more helpful to the success of the National-Socialist (Nazi) movement than the methods used by the "progressives," denouncing Nazism as a party serving the interests of "capital." The German workers knew this tactic too well to be deceived by it again.”

WayWellsMayHas BeensTodayUsedInterestPartyLibertyEconomicPolicyMovementEconomicsMethodWorkersHelpfulServingFascismSocialistNaziTacticsCould Have BeenDeceivedNazismRantMasquerade
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“He who acts under an emotional impulse also acts. What distinguishes an emotional action from other actions is the valuation of input and output. Emotions disarrange valuations. Inflamed with passion, man sees the goal as more desirable and the price he has to pay for it as less burdensome than he would in cool deliberation.”

MenActionPassionGoalPayEmotionLibertyEconomicEmotionalEconomicsImpulseDesirableInputOutputDeliberationValuation
Book:Human Action
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“The recurrence of periods of depression and mass unemployment has discredited capitalism in the opinion of injudicious people. Yet these events are not the outcome of the operation of the free market. They are on the contrary the result of well-intentioned but ill-advised government interference with the market.”

PeopleWellsGovernmentResultsLibertyOpinionEconomicEventsPeriodsMassCapitalismEconomicsIllContraryOperationsOutcomesUnemploymentFree MarketInterferenceRecurrence
Book:Middle of the Road Policy Leads to Socialism
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“All varieties of interference with the market phenomena not only fail to achieve the ends aimed at by their authors and supporters, but bring about a state of affairs which - from the point of view of their authors and advocates valuations - is less desirable than the previous state of affairs which they were designed to alter.”

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Book:Bureaucracy
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“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.”

ShouldMeanResultsLibertyEconomicInvolvedEconomicsCrisisFinalsCreditAlternativesCollapseCurrencyExpansionAvoidingCatastropheAbandonment
Book:Human action: a treatise on economics
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“The foundation of any and every civilization, including our own, is private ownership of the means of production. Whoever wishes to criticize modern civilization, therefore, begins with private property.”

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Book:The free and prosperous commonwealth: an exposition of the ideas of classical liberalism
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“The real bosses in the capitalist system of market economy are the consumers. They by their buying and by their abstention from buying decide who should own the capital and run the plants. They determine what should be produced and in what quantity and quality. Their attitudes result either in profit or in loss for the enterpriser. They make poor men rich and rich men poor. They are no easy bosses.”

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Book:Bureaucracy
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“The state is essentially an apparatus of compulsion and coercion. The characteristic feature of its activities is to compel people through the application or the threat of force to behave otherwise than they would like to behave.”

PeopleStatesForceLibertyActivityThreatLibertarianFeaturesBehaveCharacteristicsApplicationLibertarianismCompulsionCoercion
Book:Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War
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“The Reichswirtschaftsministerium ('Reich Ministry of Economic Affairs') tells the shop managers what and how to produce, at what prices and from whom to buy, at what prices and to whom to sell. It assigns every worker to his job and fixes his wages. It decrees to whom and on what terms the capitalists must entrust their funds. Market exchange is merely a sham.”

JobsTermHistoryEconomicProduceSellsWorkersAffairManagersShopsFundCapitalistMinistryWagesNazismDecreeNazi Germany
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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