Hans-Hermann Hoppe Quotes

• Democracy has nothing to do with freedom. Democracy is a soft variant of communism, and rarely in the history of ideas has it been taken for anything else.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Freedom, Taken, Democracies Have

  "Reflections on State and War". Talk in Auburn, Alabama, on the occasion of receiving the Mises Institute’s 2006 Gary G. Schlarbaum Liberty Prize, www.lewrockwell.com. December 02, 2006.

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• What is true, just, and beautiful is not determined by popular vote. The masses everywhere are ignorant, short-sighted, motivated by envy, and easy to fool. Democratic politicians must appeal to these masses in order to be elected. Whoever is the best demagogue will win. Almost by necessity, then, democracy will lead to the perversion of truth, justice and beauty.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Beauty, Beautiful, Truth

  114 Copy quote

• Democracy virtually assures that only bad and dangerous men will ever rise to the top of government.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Men, Democracy, Dangerous Man

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe (2011). “DemocracyThe God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order”, p.88, Transaction Publishers

  57 Copy quote

• If the right to vote were expanded to seven year olds … its policies would most definitely reflect the ‘legitimate concerns’ of children to have ‘adequate’ and ‘equal’ access to ‘free’ french fries, lemonade and videos.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Funny, Children, Rights

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe (2011). “DemocracyThe God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order”, p.95, Transaction Publishers

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• Democracy allows for A and B to band together to rip off C. This is not justice, but a moral outrage.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Rip, Justice, Democracy

  65 Copy quote

• Egalitarianism, in every form and shape, is incompatible with the idea of private property.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Egalitarianism, Ideas, Shapes

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe (2011). “DemocracyThe God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order”, p.217, Transaction Publishers

  63 Copy quote

• It is states that are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of people and immeasurable destruction in the 20th century alone. Compared to that, the victims of private crimes are almost negligible.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  People, Crime, Victim

  52 Copy quote

• The state operates in a legal vacuum. There exists no contract between the state and its citizens.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Vacuums, Citizens, Libertarian

  "The Mind of Hans-Hermann Hoppe". The Daily Bell interview, mises.org. March 27, 2011.

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• The recently ended twentieth century was characterized by a level of human rights violations unparalleled in all of human history. In his book Death by Government, Rudolph Rummel estimates some 170 million government-caused deaths in the twentieth century. The historical evidence appears to indicate that, rather than protecting life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of their citizens, governments must be considered the greatest threat to human security.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Freedom, Book, Pursuit Of Happiness

  37 Copy quote

• With the socialization of the health care system through institutions such as Medicaid and Medicare and the regulation of the insurance industry (by restricting an insurer’s right of refusal: to exclude any individual risk as uninsurable, and discriminate freely, according to actuarial methods, between different group risks) a monstrous machinery of wealth and income redistribution at the expense of responsible individuals and low-risk groups in favor of irresponsible actors and high-risk groups has been put in motion.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Risk, Groups, Different

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe (2011). “DemocracyThe God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order”, p.196, Transaction Publishers

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• More paper money cannot make a society richer, of course, – it is just more printed-paper. Otherwise, why is it that there are still poor countries and poor people around? But more money makes its monopolistic producer (the central bank) and its earliest recipients (the government and big, government-connected banks and their major clients) richer at the expense of making the money's late and latest receivers poorer.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Country, Government, People

  "Dr. Hans-Hermann Hoppe on the Impracticality of One-World Government and the Failure of Western-style Democracy". Interview with Anthony Wile, www.thedailybell.com. March 27, 2011.

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• Different people rise to the top under socialism than under capitalism. The higher on the socialist hierarchy you look, the more you will find people who are too incompetent to do the job they are supposed to do.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Jobs, People, Different

  28 Copy quote

• The state spends much time and effort persuading the public that
  it is not really what it is and that the consequences of its actions
  are positive rather than negative.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Effort, Negative, Action

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe (2013). “A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism: Economics, Politics, and Ethics”, p.151, Springer Science & Business Media

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• An expropriating property protector (the state, through taxation) is a contradiction in terms

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Taxation, Contradiction, States

  33 Copy quote

• Private property implies exclusivity, inequality, and difference.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Differences, Inequality, Property

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe (2011). “DemocracyThe God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order”, p.217, Transaction Publishers

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• No, the state is anything but the result of a contract! No one with even just an ounce of common sense would agree to such a contract. I have a lot of contracts in my files, but nowhere is there one like this. The state is the result of aggressive force and subjugation. It has evolved without contractual foundation, just like a gang of protection racketeers. And concerning the struggle of all against all: that is a myth.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Struggle, Common Sense, Foundation

  45 Copy quote

• Thanks to the central bank, most "monetary experts" and "leading macro-economists" can, by putting them on the payroll, be turned into government propagandists "explaining," like alchemists, how stones (paper) can be turned into bread (wealth).

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Government, Alchemist, Experts

  "Dr. Hans-Hermann Hoppe on the Impracticality of One-World Government and the Failure of Western-style Democracy". Interview with Anthony Wile, www.thedailybell.com. March 27, 2011.

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• One-man-one-vote combined with "free entry" into government-democracy--implies that every person and his personal property comes within reach of-and is up for grabs by-everyone else: a "tragedy of the commons" is created.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Men, Democracy, Tragedy

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe (2011). “DemocracyThe God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order”, p.96, Transaction Publishers

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• Even the Founding Fathers of the U.S., nowadays considered the model of a democracy, were strictly opposed to it. Without a single exception, they thought of democracy as nothing but mob-rule.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Father, Democracy, Mob Rule

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe (2011). “DemocracyThe God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order”, p.103, Transaction Publishers

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• Public officials are permitted to finance or subsidize their own activities through taxes. That is, they are permitted to engage in and live off, what in private dealings between private law subjects is prohibited and considered 'theft' and 'stolen loot.'

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Law, Finance, Stolen

  "Dr. Hans-Hermann Hoppe on the Impracticality of One-World Government and the Failure of Western-style Democracy". Interview with Anthony Wile, www.thedailybell.com. March 27, 2011.

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• All the impoverishing effects of socialism are with us in the U.S.: reduced levels of investment and saving, the misallocation of resources, the overutilization and vandalization of factors of production, and the inferior quality of products and services.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Quality, Levels, Saving

  37 Copy quote

• Contrary to any claim of a systematically “neutral” effect of taxation on production, the consequence of any such shortening of roundabout methods of production is a lower output produced. The price that invariably must be paid for taxation, and for every increase in taxation, is a coercively lowered productivity that in turn reduces the standard of living in terms of valuable assets provided for future consumption. Every act of taxation necessarily exerts a push away from more highly capitalized, more productive production processes in the direction of a hand-to-mouth-existence.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Hands, Taxation, Mouths

  24 Copy quote

• More paper money cannot make a society richer, of course, it is just more printed-paper. Otherwise why is it that there are still poor countries and poor people around?

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Country, People, Paper

  "Dr. Hans-Hermann Hoppe on the Impracticality of One-World Government and the Failure of Western-style Democracy". Interview with Anthony Wile, www.thedailybell.com. March 27, 2011.

  9 Copy quote

• If an agency is the ultimate judge in every case of conflict, then it is also judge in all conflicts involving itself. Consequently, instead of merely preventing and resolving conflict, a monopolist of ultimate decision making will also cause and provoke conflict in order to settle it to his own advantage. That is, if one can only appeal to the state for justice, justice will be perverted in the favor of the state, constitutions and supreme courts notwithstanding.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Order, Agency, Justice

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Sukrit Sabhlok (2012). “Journal of Peace, Prosperity and Freedom: Volume 1 (2012)”, p.19, Createspace Publishing

  25 Copy quote

• A government is a compulsory territorial monopolist of ultimate decision-making (jurisdiction) and, implied in this, a compulsory territorial monopolist of taxation. That is, a government is the ultimate arbiter, for the inhabitants of a given territory, regarding what is just and what is not, and it can determine unilaterally, i.e., without requiring the consent of those seeking justice or arbitration, the price that justice-seekers must pay to the government for providing this service.

  Hans-Hermann Hoppe

  Government, Justice, Decision

  13 Copy quote

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