Quotes from Ludwig von Mises

The attainment of the economic aims of man presupposes peace.

A lasting order cannot be established by bayonets.

Mankind does not drink alcohol because there are breweries, distilleries, and vineyards; men brew beer, distill spirits, and grow grapes because of the demand for alcoholic drinks.

Under capitalism the common man enjoys amenities which in ages gone by were unknown and therefore inaccessible even to the richest people.

Socialism in Russia has not brought about an improvement in the conditions of the average man which can be compared with the improvement of conditions, during the same period, in the United States.

Our whole civilization rests on the fact that men have always succeeded in beating off the attack of the re-distributors.

Two hundred years ago, before the advent of capitalism, a man's social status was fixed from the beginning to the end of his life; he inherited it from his ancestors and it never changed.

Anarchism misunderstands the real nature of man. It would be practicable only in a world of angels and saints

It is labor alone that is productive: it creates wealth and therewith lays the outward foundations for the inward flowering of man.

It is necessary to curb the power of government. This is the task of all constitutions, bills of rights and laws. This is the meaning of all struggles which men have fought for liberty.

Nobody is in a position to decree what should make a fellow man happier.

Reason is the main resource of man in his struggle for survival.

In order to succeed in business a man does not need a degree from a school of business administration. These schools train the subalterns for routine jobs. They certainly do not train entrepreneurs.

What impels every man to the utmost exertion in the service of his fellow man. Is, in the market not compulsion on the part of gendarmes, hangmen and penal courts, it is self interest.

American authors or scientists are prone to consider the wealthy businessman as a barbarian, as a man exclusively intent upon making money.

Both force and money are impotent against ideas.

War can really cause no economic boom, at least not directly, since an increase in wealth never does result from destruction of goods.

Only the naive inflationist's could believe that government could enrich mankind through fiat money.

The central element in the economic problem of money is the objective exchange-value of money, popularly called its purchasing power.

At eighty-eight how do you feel when getting up in the morning?...Amazed!

It is inherent in the nature of the capitalistic economy that, in the final analysis, the employment of the factors of production is aimed only toward serving the wishes of consumers.

Human civilization is not something achieved against nature; it is rather the outcome of the working of the innate qualities of man.

If some peoples pretend that history or geography gives them the right to subjugate other races, nations, or peoples, there can be no peace.

Whoever wants peace among nations must seek to limit the state and its influence most strictly.