Mises Quotes

“Nobody ever recommended a dictatorship aiming at ends other than those he himself approved. He who advocates dictatorship always advocates the unrestricted rule of his own will”
― Ludwig Von Mises, Omnipotent Government

“Against what is stupid, nonsensical, erroneous, and evil, [classical] liberalism fights with the weapons of the mind, and not with brute force and repression.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism: The Classical Tradition

“In a battle between force and an idea, the latter always prevails.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism: The Classical Tradition

“Most actions do not aim at anybody’s defeat or loss. They aim at an improvement in conditions.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics

“Historically the division of labour originates in two facts of nature: the ​inequality of human abilities and the variety of the external conditions of ​human life on earth. These two facts are really one: the diversity of ​Nature”
― Ludwig von Mises

“At home he was constantly reading. Once he was asked: "Don't you have a hobby?" "Oh yes," he replied, "reading." His studio was his sanctuary, his books his treasures. The last thing he did at night before retiring was to go to the bookshelves and, like a gourmet studying the menu in a good restaurant, carefully select a book to enrich his evening.”
― Margit von Mises, My Years With Ludwig von Mises

“Once in a while he also listened to a chamber-music concert on radio. When I tried to get him interested in a good television show he said, "It would take too much of my time," and he specially objected to listening to commentators. "I can do my thinking alone," was his reaction.”
― Margit von Mises, My Years With Ludwig von Mises

“But if those coming forward with elaborate plans for the “reformation” of society are not really interested in the cause of humanity, what does motivate them? Simply the desire for power: On this point Lewis is in emphatic agreement with both Hayek and Mises. Hayek: “[T]he desire to organize social life according to a single plan itself springs largely from a desire for power.” Mises: “Every dictator plans to rear, raise, feed and train his fellow citizens as the breeder does his cattle. His aim is not to make them happy but to bring them into a condition which renders him, the dictator, happy.”
― J.R.Nyquist

“In Hayek’s monetary theory of the cycle the upswing is generated by monetary expansions that cause an excess of investment over volun- tary saving and a shift in the structure of production toward more time- consuming processes. This structure, created by a depressed money rate of interest, cannot be sustained. Monetary expansion, then, will not pro- duce an everlasting boom, and when the expansion eventually stops, crisis and depression follow. With regard to the sources of monetary expansion, while others like Mises put the blame on the misguided (“inflationist” or “cheap money”) attitude of the monetary authorities, Hayek pointed to the endogenous process of money creation by the banks, in particular in a sys- tem of fractional reserve banking (see, e.g., Hayek 2012a [1933a], chap. 4, vs. Mises 2006b [1928]).”
― Bruce Caldwell, Hayek: A Life, 1899–1950