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Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises Quotes

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Famous Ludwig von Mises Quotes

“Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people's authority, he behaves as "every decent fellow must behave,'' he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.”

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Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“There is in the universe something for the description and analysis of which the natural sciences cannot contribute anything. There are events beyond the range of those events that the procedures of the natural sciences are fit to observe and describe. There is human action.”

HumansActionUniverseNaturalSocietyEventsFitRangeAnalysisDescriptionProceduresNatural ScienceHuman Actions
Book:The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method
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“It is important to remember that government interference always means either violent action or the threat of such action. The funds that a government spends for whatever purposes are levied by taxation. And taxes are paid because the taxpayers are afraid of offering resistance to the tax gatherers. They know that any disobedience or resistance is hopeless. As long as this is the state of affairs, the government is able to collect the money that it wants to spend.”

ThinkingKnowsWantMeanLongImportantStatesGovernmentAbleActionRememberPurposeTaxesPaidThreatAffairViolentResistanceFundHopelessOfferingTaxationTaxpayersDisobedienceInterference
Book:Human Action
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“In a game there are winners and losers. But a business deal is always advantageous for both parties. If both the buyer and the seller were not to consider the transaction as the most advantageous action they could choose under the prevailing conditions, they would not enter into the deal.”

IfsActionGamesDealsPartyConditionsWinnerLoserTransactionsPrevailingSellersBuyersWinner And LoserBusiness Deals
Book:The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method
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“The main characteristic of collectivism is that it does not take notice of the individual's will and moral self-determination. In the light of its philosophy the individual is born into a collective and it is "natural" and proper for him to behave as members of this collective are expected to behave. Expected by whom? Of course, by those individuals to whom, by the mysterious decrees of some mysterious agency, the task of determining the collective will and directing the actions of the collective has been entrusted.”

DoeHas BeensSelfPhilosophyLightActionCoursesIndividualBornNaturalMoralMembersDeterminationTasksExpectedSocialismMysteriousBehaveAgencyCharacteristicsCollectivesSelf DeterminationCollectivismDecree
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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“It is true that some secluded intellectuals in their esoteric circles talk differently. They proclaim the priority of what they call eternal absolute values and feign in their declamations—not in their personal conduct—a disdain of things secular and transitory. But the public ignores such utterances. The main goal of present-day political action is to secure for the respective pressure group memberships the highest material well-being. The only way for a leader to succeed is to instill in people the conviction that his program best serves the attainment of this goal.”

PeopleWayWellsActionPoliticalValuesGoalLeaderGroupsMaterialsSucceedEternalHighestProgramAbsolutesPressureConvictionPrioritiesCirclesSecureWell BeingSecularAttainmentPresent DayDisdainUtteranceMembershipInstillEsotericTransitoryPolitical ActionSecludedDeclamationPressure Groups
Book:Human action: a treatise on economics
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“Library of the Works of Ludwig von Mises”. Here is an article he wrote in 1951, some two years after his magnum opus Human Action appeared, where is lays out his case in a more popular form. The money sentences are “Economic theory has demonstrated in an irrefutable way that a prosperity created by an expansionist monetary and credit policy is illusory and must end in a slump, an economic crisis. It has happened again and again in the past, and it will happen in the future, too.”

WayYearsHumansTwoEndsHappensActionPastFormCasesHappenedEconomicPolicyTheoryCrisisLaysLibraryProsperityCreditSentencesTwo YearsArticlesAgain And AgainMonetaryIllusoryHuman ActionsEconomic CrisisEconomic TheorySlumpsVon Mises
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“If we live our lives as a gift it is possible to reach a blissful state of eternal happiness. It is those who live their life with a sense of entitlement that undermine peace , freedom and liberty. Know that every breath is a miracle and every moment a blessing and you will achieve your dreams. 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.”

PeopleIfsKnowsHumansMeanStatesMomentsDreamActionQualityLibertyOur LivesAchieveBlessingEternalMiracleBreathsPlanningYour DreamsEntitlementFreedom And LibertyHuman QualitiesEternal HappinessAchieving Your DreamsSense Of EntitlementOther People's Actions
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“The market economy is the social system of the division of labor under private ownership of the means of production. Everybody acts on his own behalf; but everybodys actions aim at the satisfaction of other peoples needs as well as at the satisfaction of his own. Everybody in acting serves his fellow citizens.”

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Book:Human action: a treatise on economics
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“In the land of the lotus-eaters there is no action. Action arises only from need, from dissatisfaction. It is purposeful striving towards something. Its ultimate end is always to get rid of a condition which is conceived to be deficient-to fulfill a need, to achieve satisfaction, to increase happiness.”

NeedsEndsActionLandAchieveConditionsUltimateIncreaseStriveSatisfactionLibertarianAriseDissatisfactionLotuses
Book:Socialism - An Economic and Sociological Analysis: The Economist
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“The gold standard did not collapse. Governments abolished it in order to pave the way for inflation. The whole grim apparatus of oppression and coercion, policemen, customs guards, penal courts, prisons, in some countries even executioners, had to be put into action in order to destroy the gold standard.”

WayCountryWholeGovernmentActionOrderStandardsGoldCourtPrisonOppressionCustomsCollapseInflationPolicemenCoercionGrimExecutionersGold Standard
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“War is harmful, not only to the conquered but to the conqueror. Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking. Peace and not war is the father of all things. Only economic action has created the wealth around us; labor, not the profession of arms, brings happiness. Peace builds, war destroys.”

WarActionFatherWealthEconomicArmsLaborAll ThingsEssenceProfessionMaking PeaceConquerorPeacemaking
Book:Socialism - An Economic and Sociological Analysis: The Economist
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“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.”

MenMeanImportantGovernmentActionLastsRememberEssentialsAskingPrisonThreatKillingSoldierViolentEmploymentFeaturesEnforcementResortsCompulsionPolicemenInterferenceDecreeHangmanPrison Guards
Book:Economic freedom and interventionism: an anthology of articles and essays
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“Economics must not be relegated to classrooms and statistical offices and must not be left to esoteric circles. It is the philosophy of human life and action and concerns everybody and everything. It is the pith of civilization and of man's human existence.”

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Book:Human action: a treatise on economics
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“Every man aims at avoiding what causes him pain; the activities of government ultimately consist in the infliction of pain. All great achievements of mankind were the product of a spontaneous effort on the part of individuals; government substitutes coercion for voluntary action.”

MenGovernmentActionPainSufferingIndividualCausesEffortMankindProductsActivityAchievementAimEvery ManSubstitutesSpontaneousAvoidingCoercionGreat AchievementInfliction
Book:The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method
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“Every step by which an individual substitutes concerted action for isolated action results in an immediate and recognizable improvement in his conditions. The advantages derived from peaceful cooperation and division of labor are universal.”

ActionIndividualResultsStepsSocietyConditionsAdvantageLaborUniversalImprovementPeacefulDivisionSubstitutesCooperationIsolatedEvery StepDivision Of Labor
Book:Human action: a treatise on economics
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