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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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“The essence and the glory of the free market is that individual firms and businesses, competing on the market, provide an ever-changing orchestration of efficient and progressive goods and services: continually improving products and markets, advancing technology, cutting costs, and meeting changing consumer demands as swiftly and as efficiently as possible.”

IndividualTechnologyCuttingProductsCostDemandGloryEssenceMeetingsConsumersFirmGoodsProgressiveEfficientImprovingCompetingFree MarketAdvancingGoods And ServicesOrchestration
Book:For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto
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“It is curious that people tend to regard government as a quasi-divine, selfless, Santa Claus organization. Government was constructed neither for ability nor for the exercise of loving care; government was built for the use of force and for necessarily demagogic appeals for votes. If individuals do not know their own interests in many cases, they are free to turn to private experts for guidance. It is absurd to say that they will be served better by a coercive, demagogic apparatus.”

PeopleIfsKnowsUseGovernmentCareTurnsIndividualForceInterestAbilityCasesDivineExerciseBuiltVoteOrganizationRegardAbsurdCuriousAppealsGuidanceExpertsSelflessSantaSanta ClausUse Of Force
Book:Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market, Scholar's Edition
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“Children are prepared for democracy by being led to discuss current events without first learning the systematic subjects (politics, economics, history) which are necessary in order to discuss them. The Mole effect is to substitute slogans and superficial opinion for considered individual thought. And the opinion is that of the lowest common denominator of the group.”

FirstsChildrenOrderIndividualCommonOpinionDemocracyGroupsSubjectsEffectsEventsEconomicsPreparedCurrentsEducationalSubstitutesSuperficialLowestSlogansSystematicCommon DenominatorMolesCurrent EventsLowest Common Denominator
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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“The individual man, in introspecting the fact of his own consciousness, also discovers the primordial natural fact of his freedom: his freedom to choose, his freedom to use or not use his reason about any given subject. In short, the natural fact of his "free will." He also discovers the natural fact of his mind's command over his body and its actions: that is, of his natural ownership over his self.”

MenMindSelfReasonFactsUseBodyActionIndividualGivenNaturalFreedomConsciousnessSubjectsCommandFree WillOwnershipFreedom To Choose
Book:The Ethics of Liberty
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“To those advocates of independent paper moneys who also champion the free market, I would address this simple question: "Why don't you advocate the unlimited freedom of each individual to manufacture dollars?" If dollars are really and properly things-in-themselves, why not let everyone manufacture them as they manufacture wheat and baby food?”

IfsIndividualFreedomSimpleMoneyBabyPaperIndependentDollarsChampionAddressesWhy NotUnlimitedFree MarketWheat
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“I define anarchist society as one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual. Anarchists oppose the State because it has its very being in such aggression, namely, the expropriation of private property through taxation, the coercive exclusion of other providers of defense service from its territory, and all of the other depredations and coercions that are built upon these twin foci of invasions of individual rights.”

PersonsStatesIndividualFocusRightsPossibilityBuiltPropertyDefenseTerritoryAnarchyAggressionTwinsTaxationInvasionCoercionAnarchistPrivate PropertyExclusionProvidersIndividual Rights
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“Human life is not some sort of race or game in which each person should start from an identical mark. It is an attempt by each man to be as happy as possible. And each person could not begin from the same point, for the world has not just come into being; it is diverse and infinitely varied in its parts. The mere fact that one individual is necessarily born in a different place from someone else immediately insures that his inherited opportunity cannot be the same as his neighbor's.”

MenWorldShouldHumansPersonsDifferentFactsLife IsOpportunityGamesIndividualBornRaceMarkMereEqualityNeighborHuman LifeDiverseIdenticalDifferent PlaceEgalitarianism
Author:Murray Rothbard
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