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Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War

Book by Ludwig von Mises · 32 quotes · Anti War, Antiwar, War

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Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War Quotes

“A new type of superstition has got hold of people's minds, the worship of the state. People demand the exercise of the methods of coercion and compulsion, of violence and threat. Woe to anybody who does not bend his knee to the fashionable idols!”

PeopleMindDoeStatesViolenceTypeExerciseDemandWorshipMethodThreatKneesIdolsSuperstitionsWoeCompulsionCoercionFashionable
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“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.”

MenFirstsOrderFightingSocialPrinciplesReturnSpeechMethodCommittedVainTotalitarianismFreedom Of ThoughtAdoptingSocial Order
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“The salesman thanks the customer for patronizing his shop and asks him to come again. But the socialists say: Be grateful to Hitler, render thanks to Stalin; be nice and submissive, then the great man will be kind to you later too.”

MenKindAsksNiceCapitalismGratefulCustomersSocialismThanksGreat MenShopsBe KindBeing NiceBe GratefulSalesmanSubmissivePatronizing
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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
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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
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“Many pioneers of these industrial changes, it is true, became rich. But they acquired their wealth by supplying the public with motor cars, airplanes, radio sets, refrigerators, moving and talking pictures, and variety of less spectacular but no less useful innovations. These new products were certainly not an achievement of offices and bureaucrats.”

MovingWealthTalkingRichCarProductsOfficeAchievementCapitalismInnovationRadioVarietyAirplaneSpectacularMotorPioneersBureaucratsRefrigeratorsNew ProductsMotor Cars
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“The characteristic feature of militarism is not the fact that a nation has a powerful army or navy. It is the paramount role assigned to the army within the political structure. Even in peacetime the army is supreme; it is the predominant factor in political life. The subjects must obey the government as soldiers must obey their superiors. Within a militarist community there is no freedom; there are only obedience and discipline.”

FactsGovernmentPoliticalNationsCommunityPowerfulRolesSubjectsDisciplineArmyStructureSoldierSupremeSuperiorsFactorsObedienceFeaturesCharacteristicsNavyParamountMilitarismPolitical Life
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“True, governments can reduce the rate of interest in the short run. They can issue additional paper money. They can open the way to credit expansion by the banks. They can thus create an artificial boom and the appearance of prosperity. But such a boom is bound to collapse soon or late and to bring about a depression.”

WayGovernmentRunningInterestIssuesPaperLateRateBoundsProsperityAppearanceCreditArtificialCollapseExpansionPaper Money
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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 by governments.”

MenStatesGovernmentEvilForceWorstMankindDangerousCivilizationWorshipEndureMenaceIncompetent
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