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Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises Quotes

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Famous Ludwig von Mises Quotes

“Resentment is at work when one so hates somebody for his more favorable circumstances that one is prepared to bear heavy losses if only the hated one might also come to harm. Many of those who attack capitalism know very well that their situation under any other economic system will be less favorable.”

IfsKnowsWellsMightHateLossSituationEconomicBearsCircumstancesCapitalismPreparedHeavyHarmHatedResentmentEconomic Systems
Book:The free and prosperous commonwealth: an exposition of the ideas of classical liberalism
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“Inflationism, however, is not an isolated phenomenon. It is only one piece in the total framework of politico-economic and socio-philosophical ideas of our time. Just as the sound money policy of gold standard advocates went hand in hand with liberalism, free trade, capitalism and peace, so is inflationism part and parcel of imperialism, militarism, protectionism, statism and socialism.”

IdeasHandsSoundPiecesEconomicPolicyStandardsCapitalismGoldPhilosophicalTradeInvestingSocialismOur TimeLiberalismPhenomenonIsolatedImperialismFrameworkHand In HandFree TradeOne PieceMilitarismParcelGold StandardProtectionism
Book:On the Manipulation of Money and Credit
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“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.”

IfsMeanGovernmentLawLibertyEconomyEconomicLettersOppositesConstitutionInvestingRangePreservationCompulsionProvisionCoercionCompatibleMarket EconomyEconomic Freedom
Book:Economic freedom and interventionism: an anthology of articles and essays
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“Monetary calculation is not the calculation, and certainly not the measurement, of value. Its basis is the comparison of the more important and the less important. It is an ordering according to rank, an act of grading (Cuhel), and not an act of measuring. It was a mistake to search for a measure of the value of goods. In the last analysis, economic calculation does not rest on the measurement of values, but on their arrangement in an order of rank.”

DoeImportantLastsValuesOrderMistakeEconomicBasesAnalysisComparisonGoodsArrangementsMeasurementCalculationsMonetaryMeasuring
Book:Epistemological Problems of Economics
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“The truth is that capitalism has not only multiplied population figures, but at the same time, improved the people's standard of living in an unprecedented way. Neither economic thinking nor historical experience suggests that any other social system could be as beneficial to the masses as capitalism. The results speak for themselves. The market economy needs no apologists and propagandists. It can apply to itself the words of Sir Christopher Wren's epitaph in St. Paul's: Si monumentum requires, circumspice.”

PeopleThinkingWayNeedsSpeakSocialResultsEconomyEconomicFiguresTruth IsMassStandardsCapitalismHistoricalPopulationBeneficialUnprecedentedStandards Of LivingEpitaphMarket EconomySocial SystemsPropagandistWrens
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“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.”

MeanMatterGovernmentPoliticalIndividualEconomicCapitalismCapacityManagementProductionsSocialismConsumersBoardsEnterpriseVotersSpheresSovereigntySupremacyFree Enterprise
Book:Bureaucracy
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“Liberalism and capitalism address themselves to the cool, well-balanced mind. They proceed by strict logic, eliminating any appeal to the emotions. Socialism, on the contrary, works on the emotions, tries to violate logical considerations by rousing a sense of personal interest and to stifle the voice of reason by awakening primitive instincts.”

TryingMindWellsReasonVoiceInterestEmotionLibertyEconomicCapitalismEconomicsLogicInstinctAwakeningContrarySocialismAppealsLiberalismAddressesConsiderationLogicalBalancedPrimitiveStrictEliminatingPersonal InterestVoice Of Reason
Book:Socialism - An Economic and Sociological Analysis: The Economist
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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 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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