Ludwig von Mises ( 10 of 64 )
To illustrate the difference between the innovator and the dull crowd of routinists who cannot even imagine that any improvement read more
To illustrate the difference between the innovator and the dull crowd of routinists who cannot even imagine that any improvement is possible, we need only refer to a passage in Engel's most famous book. Here, in 1878, Engels apodictically announced that military weapons are "now so perfected that no further progress of any revolutionizing influence is any longer possible." Henceforth "all further [technological] progress is by and large indifferent for land warfare. The age of evolution is in this regard essentially closed." This complacent conclusion shows in what the achievement of the innovator consists: he accomplishes what other people believe to be unthinkable and unfeasible.
Reason is the main resource of man in his struggle for survival.
Reason is the main resource of man in his struggle for survival.
...it is solely bigness in business which makes it possible to supply the masses with all those products the present-day read more
...it is solely bigness in business which makes it possible to supply the masses with all those products the present-day American common man does not want to do without. Luxury goods for the few can be produced in small shops. Luxury goods for the many require big business.
It is impossible to describe any human action if one does not refer to the meaning the actor sees in read more
It is impossible to describe any human action if one does not refer to the meaning the actor sees in the stimulus as well as in the end his response is aiming at.
The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and read more
The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and is its concern for freedom from the state. The history of the West, from the age of the Greek polis down to the present-day resistance to socialism, is essentially the history of the fight for liberty against the encroachments of the officeholders.
Competition on the market aims at assigning to every individual that function in the social system in which he can read more
Competition on the market aims at assigning to every individual that function in the social system in which he can render to all his fellow men the most valuable of the services he is able to perform.
Reason and action are congeneric and homogenous, two aspects of the same phenomenon.
Reason and action are congeneric and homogenous, two aspects of the same phenomenon.
Reason's biological function is to preserve and promote life and to postpone its extinction as long as possible. Thinking and read more
Reason's biological function is to preserve and promote life and to postpone its extinction as long as possible. Thinking and acting are not contrary to nature; they are, rather, the foremost features of man's nature. The most appropriate description of man as differentiated from nonhuman beings is: a being purposively struggling against the forces adverse to his life.
...the only means to well-being is to increase the quantity of products. This is what business aims at.
...the only means to well-being is to increase the quantity of products. This is what business aims at.
Against nature and within nature there is no freedom.
Against nature and within nature there is no freedom.
