The Quotable Mises, edited by Mark Thornton and published by the Mises Institute, is 300-plus pages of some of the most thrilling words on politics and economics ever written.

In some ways, it is the perfect introduction to Mises's thought, something that immediately grabs one's attention and gives a fast and accessible presentation of the range of his ideas.

The content is Mises in a brand-new way, in a way that you have never encountered him before. Each page exudes energy and wisdom. After we sent it to Bettina-Bien Greaves, she wrote us to say: "A thrilling project, a thorough job, and a marvelous result. The Quotable Mises performs a great service."

Just consider these quotations from Mises that are included:

    * The issue is always the same: the government or the market. There is no third solution.
    * If history could teach us anything, it would be that private property is inextricably linked with civilization.
    * What distinguishes civilized man from a barbarian must be acquired by every individual anew.
    * Go into the home of the average American family and you will see for whom the wheels of the machines are turning.
    * Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.
    * Governments become liberal only when forced to by the citizens.
    * Both force and money are impotent against ideas.
    * The comparatively greater prosperity of the United States is an outcome of the fact that the New Deal did not come in 1900 or 1910, but only in 1933.
    * The worst and most dangerous form of absolutist rule is that of an intolerant majority.
    * War prosperity is like the prosperity that an earthquake or a plague brings. The earthquake means good business for construction workers, and cholera improves the business of physicians, pharmacists, and undertakers; but no one has for that reason yet sought to celebrate earthquakes and cholera as stimulators of the productive forces in the general interest.
    * Economics deals with real man, weak and subject to error as he is, not with ideal beings omniscient and perfect as only gods could be.

The biggest struggle in putting the book together was not in finding enough quotes but in limiting the number. The editor tried to provide a representative list of topics and subjects that Mises is most famous for such as socialism, bureaucracy, interventionism, money, government, and war. But he also included many subject areas for which Mises is not often quoted, including arts, fate, health, instinct, martyrdom, religion, and youth.

Most economists don't write enough memorable material in an entire lifetime to fill 20 pages. But Mises was different. He was brilliant, brave, and tenacious. He could also write. He wanted to reach all people, not just specialists.

This serves as an introduction and guide to his thought, or even a kind of concordance, all in his own words. Mostly it is a means for putting Mises's ideas in even greater circulation.

Download The Quotable Mises by Mark Thornton

Pdf format, 560kb, 298pages.

Ludwig Von Mises Institute Official Website

The Ludwig von Mises Institute is the research and educational center of classical liberalism, libertarian political theory, and the Austrian School of economics. Working in the intellectual tradition of Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) and Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995), with a vast array of publications, programs, and fellowships, the Mises Institute, with offices in Auburn, Alabama, seeks a radical shift in the intellectual climate as the foundation for a renewal of the free and prosperous commonwealth.

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