Ludwig von Mises Quotes

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• The advocates of public control cannot do without inflation. They need it in order to finance their policy of reckless spending and of lavishly subsidizing and bribing the voters.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Order, Needs, Voters

  Ludwig von Mises (2013). “The Theory of Money and Credit”, p.436, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  26 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Men, Civilization, Evil

  Ludwig Von Mises (1985). “Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War”, Libertarian Press

  55 Copy quote

• Liberty is meaningless if it is only the liberty to agree with those in power.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Liberty, Agree, Ifs

  47 Copy quote

• The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but one a subordinate clerk in a bureau.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Men, Garden, Blessing

  Ludwig von Mises (2016). “Bureaucracy: The Economist”, p.115, VM eBooks

  203 Copy quote

• The most important thing to remember is that inflation is not an act of God, that inflation is not a catastrophe of the elements or a disease that comes like the plague. Inflation is a policy.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Important, Elements, Disease

  Ludwig Von Mises (2006). “Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow”, p.72, Ludwig von Mises Institute

  33 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Mean, Liberty, Finals

  Ludwig Von Mises (1963). “Human action: a treatise on economics”

  45 Copy quote

• Innovators and creative geniuses cannot be reared in schools. They are precisely the men who defy what the school has taught them.

  Ludwig von Mises

  School, Men, Creative

  Ludwig Von Mises (1963). “Human action: a treatise on economics”

  123 Copy quote

• Every socialist is a disguised dictator.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Dictator, Socialist

  50 Copy quote

• Government is the only institution that can take a valuable commodity like paper, and make it worthless by applying ink.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Government, Ink, Paper

  28 Copy quote

• The struggle for freedom is ultimately not resistance to autocrats or oligarchs but resistance to the despotism of public opinion.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Struggle, Public Opinion, Resistance

  Ludwig von Mises (1985). “Theory and History”, p.66, Ludwig von Mises Institute

  25 Copy quote

• Every government intervention [in the marketplace] creates unintended consequences, which lead to calls for further government interventions.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Government, Unintended Consequences, Marketplace

  27 Copy quote

• The interventionists do not approach the study of economic matters with scientific disinterestedness. Most of them are driven by an envious resentment against those whose incomes are larger than their own. This bias makes it impossible for them to see things as they really are. For them the main thing is not to improve the conditions of the masses, but to harm the entrepreneurs and capitalists even if this policy victimizes the immense majority of the people.

  Ludwig von Mises

  People, Entrepreneur, Liberty

  Ludwig Von Mises (1947). “Planned Chaos”, p.6, Ludwig von Mises Institute

  26 Copy quote

• The Welfare State is merely a method for transforming the market economy step by step into socialism.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Steps, Socialism, Welfare

  9 Copy quote

• Socialism is not in the least what it pretends to be. It is not the pioneer of a better and finer world, but the spoiler of what thousands of years of civilization have created. It does not build, it destroys. For destruction is the essence of it. It produces nothing, it only consumes what the social order based on private ownership in the means of production has created.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Mean, Order, Years

  Ludwig von Mises (2016). “Socialism - An Economic and Sociological Analysis: The Economist”, p.414, VM eBooks

  66 Copy quote

• If you increase the quantity of money, you bring about the lowering of the purchasing power of the monetary unit.

  Ludwig von Mises

  World, Increase, Purchasing Power

  Ludwig Von Mises (2006). “Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow”, p.66, Ludwig von Mises Institute

  21 Copy quote

• Liberty is always freedom from the government.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Government, Liberty

  35 Copy quote

• The truth is that most people lack the intellectual ability and courage to resist a popular movement, however pernicious and ill-considered.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Life, People, Intellectual

  Ludwig Von Mises (1947). “Planned Chaos”, p.81, Ludwig von Mises Institute

  24 Copy quote

• Public works are not accomplished by the miraculous power of a magic wand. They are paid for by funds taken away from the citizens.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Taken, Magic, Liberty

  Ludwig Von Mises (1963). “Human action: a treatise on economics”

  17 Copy quote

• Do not give in to evil, but proceed ever more boldly against it.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Evil, Giving, Investing

  12 Copy quote

• The most serious dangers for American freedom and the American way of life do not come from without.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Way, Serious, Danger

  Ludwig Von Mises (1990). “Economic freedom and interventionism: an anthology of articles and essays”

  13 Copy quote
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  The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Peace, War, Government

  Ludwig Von Mises (1985). “Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War”, Libertarian Press

  122 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Mean, Men, Prison Guards

  Ludwig Von Mises (1990). “Economic freedom and interventionism: an anthology of articles and essays”

  35 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Equality Under The Law, Offering, Giving

  64 Copy quote

• The government and its chiefs do not have the powers of the mythical Santa Claus. They cannot spend except by taking out of the pockets of some people for the benefit of others.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Government, People, Pockets

  Ludwig Von Mises, Murray Newton Rothbard (1980). “Planning for freedom, and sixteen other essays and addresses”, Libertarian Press, Incorporated

  11 Copy quote

• The standard of living of the common man is higher in those countries which have the greatest number of wealthy entrepreneurs.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Country, Men, Numbers

  Ludwig Von Mises (2008). “Planning for Freedom: Let the Market System Work : a Collection of Essays and Addresses”

  37 Copy quote

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