Socialism and interventionism. Both have in common the goal of subordinating the individual unconditionally to the state. — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
The productivity of social cooperation surpasses in every respect the sum total of the production of isolated individuals. — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Society is only possible on these terms, that the individual finds therein a strengthening of his own ego and his own will. — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
All rational action is in the first place individual action. Only the individual thinks. Only the individual reasons. Only the individual acts. — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Private property creates for the individual a sphere in which he is free of the state. It sets limits to the operation… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Action based on reason, action therefore which is only to be understood by reason, knows only one end, the greatest pleasure of… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
The meaning of economic freedom is this: that the individual is in a position to choose the way in which he wants… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Spontaneous actions of individuals, aiming at nothing else than at the improvement of their own state of satisfaction, undermined the prestige of… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
In relation to the immense sacrifices that the state demands of the individual through the blood tax, it seems rather incidental whether… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Every man aims at avoiding what causes him pain; the activities of government ultimately consist in the infliction of pain. All great… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
History does not provide any example of capital accumulation brought about by a government. As far as governments invested in the construction… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
The greater productivity of work under the division of labor is a unifying influence. It leads men to regard each other as… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
It is always the individual who thinks. Society does not think any more than it eats or drinks. The evolution of human… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
There is no use in deceiving ourselves. American public opinion rejects the market economy, the capitalistic free enterprise system that provided the… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
The state is the only institution entitled to apply coercion and compulsion and to inflict harm upon individuals. This tremendous power cannot… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
The market steers the capitalistic economy. It directs each individual's activities into those channels in which he best serves the wants of… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Private property creates for the individual a sphere in which he is free of the state. It sets limits to the operation… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
The main characteristic of collectivism is that it does not take notice of the individual's will and moral self-determination. In the light… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
A famous, very often quoted phrase says: "That government is best, which governs least." I do not believe this to be a… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
To assign to everybody his proper place in society is the task of the consumers. Their buying and abstention from buying is… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Once the principle is admitted that it is the duty of the government to protect the individual against his own foolishness, no… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Competition on the market aims at assigning to every individual that function in the social system in which he can render to… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Free markets. What does this system mean? The answer is simple: it is the market economy, it is the system in which… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
As soon as we surrender the principle that the state should not interfere in any questions touching on the individuals mode of… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Laissez faire does not mean: let soulless mechanical forces operate. It means: let individuals choose how they want to cooperate in the… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Once it has been perceived that the division of labour is the essence of society, nothing remains of the antithesis between individual… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
The capitalist system was termed "capitalism" not by a friend of the system, but by an individual who considered it to be… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Every step by which an individual substitutes concerted action for isolated action results in an immediate and recognizable improvement in his conditions.… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
The aim of all struggles for liberty is to keep in bounds the armed defenders of peace, the governors and their constables.… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Capitalism means free enterprise, sovereignty of the consumers in economic matters, and sovereignty of the voters in political matters. Socialism means full… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
What makes the existence and the evolution of society possible is precisely the fact that peaceful cooperation under the social division of… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
As society is only possible if everyone, while living his own life, at the same time helps others to live; if every… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
If the present American laws concerning the taxation of the profits of corporations, the incomes of individuals, and inheritances had been introduced… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
If the members of parliament no longer consider themselves mandatories of the taxpayers but deputies of those receiving salaries, wages, subsidies, doles, and other… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Changes in human conditions are brought about by the pioneering of the cleverest and most energetic men. They take the lead and the rest… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
During the 2300 years since Plato, very little opposition has been registered to his ideas. — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
“How little one is justified in speaking in this connection of "optimism" and "pessimism" and how much the characterization of liberalism as "optimistic" aims… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Every step by which an individual substitutes concerted action for isolated action results in an immediate and recognizable improvement in his conditions. The advantages… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
The capitalistic social order, therefore, is an economic democracy in the strictest sense of the word. In the last analysis, all decisions are dependent… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
Without calculation, economic activity is impossible. Since under Socialism economic calculation is impossible, under Socialism there can be no economic activity in our sense… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
There is no kind of freedom and liberty other than the kind which the market economy brings about. — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
What counts alone is the innovator, the dissenter, the harbinger of things unheard of, the man who rejects the traditional standards and aims at… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
In reality no food is valued solely for its nutritive power and no garment or house solely for the protection it affords against cold… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
All this talk: the state should do this or that, ultimately means: the police should force consumers to behave otherwise than they would behave… — Ludwig von Mises Copy Share Image
