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Murray Rothbard

Murray Rothbard Quotes

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Famous Murray Rothbard Quotes

“I see the liberty of the individual not only as a great moral good in itself (or, with Lord Acton, as the highest political good), but also as the necessary condition for the flowering of all the other goods that mankind cherishes: moral virtue, civilization, the arts and sciences, economic prosperity.”

ArtPoliticalIndividualLibertyMoralLordVirtueEconomicConditionsMankindCivilizationHighestProsperityGoodsCherishArt And ScienceFloweringMoral VirtuesEconomic Prosperity
Book:Salutary neglect
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“One of the most important features of our economic resources is their scarcity: land, labor, and capital goods factors are all scarce, and may all be put to various possible uses. The free market uses them 'productively' because the producers are guided, on the market, to produce what the consumers most need: automobiles, for example, rather than buggies.”

NeedsMayImportantUseEconomicLandExampleProduceResourcesLaborVariousFactorsProducersConsumersFeaturesGoodsFree MarketAutomobileScarceScarcityLabor And CapitalEconomic Resources
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“[W]hich category of crimes does the State pursue and punish most intensely? [T]hose against private citizens or those against itself? The gravest crimes in the State's lexicon are almost invariably not invasions of private person or property, but dangers to its own contentment, for example, treason, desertion of a soldier to the enemy, failure to register for the draft, subversion and subversive conspiracy, assassination of rulers and such economic crimes against the State as counterfeiting its money or evasion of its income tax.”

PersonsDoeStatesEnemyEconomicCrimeDangerExampleCitizensTaxesPropertySoldierIncomePursueContentmentCategoriesConspiracyRulersInvasionRegisterIncome TaxTreasonAssassinationSubversiveEvasionSubversionLexiconDesertion
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“The libertarian creed...offers the fulfillment of the best of the American past along with the promise of a far better future. Libertarians are squarely in the great classical liberal tradition that built the United States and bestowed on us the American heritage of individual liberty, a peaceful foreign policy, minimal government, and a free-market economy.”

StatesGovernmentPastIndividualUnitedLibertyUnited StatesEconomyEconomicPolicyPromiseOffersBuiltEconomicsTraditionLibertarianPeacefulFulfillmentHeritageForeign PolicyCreedsFree MarketBetter FutureIndividual LibertyMarket Economy
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“The diversity of mankind is a basic postulate of our knowledge of human beings. But if mankind is diverse and individuated, then how can anyone propose equality as an ideal? Every year, scholars hold Conferences on Equality and call for greater equality, and no one challenges the basic tenet. But what justification can equality find in the nature of man? If each individual is unique, how else can he be made 'equal' to others than by destroying most of what is human in him and reducing human society to the mindless uniformity of the ant heap?”

IfsMenYearsHumansMadeIndividualChallengesHuman BeingsLibertyGreaterEconomicMankindEqualDiversityUniqueIdealsEconomicsDestroyingScholarDiverseJustificationConferencesProposeAntsReducingHuman SocietyMindlessNature Of ManUniformity
Book:Man, Economy, and State, Scholar's Edition
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“If government manages to establish paper tickets or bank credit as money, as equivalent to gold grams or ounces, then the government, as dominant money-supplier, becomes free to create money costlessly and at will. As a result, this 'inflation' of the money supply destroys the value of the dollar or pound, drives up prices, cripples economic calculation, and hobbles and seriously damages the workings of the market economy.”

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Author:Murray Rothbard
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