Ludwig von Mises ( 10 of 64 )
Action based on reason, action therefore which is only to be understood by reason, knows only one end, the greatest read more
Action based on reason, action therefore which is only to be understood by reason, knows only one end, the greatest pleasure of the acting individual.
Society cannot contribute anything to the breeding and growing of ingenious men. A creative genius cannot be trained. There are read more
Society cannot contribute anything to the breeding and growing of ingenious men. A creative genius cannot be trained. There are no schools for creativeness. A genius is precisely a man who defies all schools and rules, who deviates from the traditional roads of routine and opens up new paths through land inaccessible before. A genius is always a teacher, never a pupil; he is always self-made.
The rich adopt novelties and become accustomed to their use. This sets a fashion which others imitate. Once the richer read more
The rich adopt novelties and become accustomed to their use. This sets a fashion which others imitate. Once the richer classes have adopted a certain way of living, producers have an incentive to improve the methods of manufacture so that soon it is possible for the poorer classes to follow suit. Thus luxury furthers progress. Innovation "is the whim of an elite before it becomes a need of the public. The luxury today is the necessity of tomorrow." Luxury is the roadmaker of progress: it develops latent needs and makes people discontented. In so far as they think consistently, moralists who condemn luxury must recommend the comparatively desireless existence of the wild life roaming in the woods as the ultimate ideal of civilized life.
Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d'etre to the imperfection of man and can read more
Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d'etre to the imperfection of man and can attain their end, the elimination of man's innate impulse to violence, only by recourse to violence, the very thing they are called upon to prevent.
...economic history is a long record of government policies that failed because they were designed with a bold disregard for read more
...economic history is a long record of government policies that failed because they were designed with a bold disregard for the laws of economics.
The first thing a genius needs is to breath free air.
The first thing a genius needs is to breath free air.
The philosophy called individualism is a philosophy of social cooperation and the progressive intensification of the social nexus.
The philosophy called individualism is a philosophy of social cooperation and the progressive intensification of the social nexus.
If the small minority of enlightened citizens who are able to conceive sound principles of political management do not succeed read more
If the small minority of enlightened citizens who are able to conceive sound principles of political management do not succeed in winning the support of their fellow citizens and converting them to the endorsement of policies that bring and preserve prosperity, the cause of mankind and civilization is hopeless. There is no other means to safeguard a propitious development of human affairs than to make the masses of inferior people adopt the ideas of the elite. This has to be achieved by convincing them. It cannot be accomplished by a despotic regime that instead of enlightening the masses beats them into submission. In the long run the ideas of the majority, however detrimental they may be, will carry on. The future of mankind depends on the ability of the elite to influence public opinion in the right direction.
The class of those who have the ability to think their own thoughts is separated by an unbridgeable gulf from read more
The class of those who have the ability to think their own thoughts is separated by an unbridgeable gulf from the class of those who cannot.
Progress cannot be organized.
Progress cannot be organized.
