Ludwig von Mises Quotes

Without labor there is neither wealth, nor comfort, nor progress.

Genuine wealth is created when work is undertaken not simply as a means of earning a livelihood but also as a way to contribute to society. We hold that meaningful work is a basic need of the human soul, as important to the proper development of the individual as nutritious food, clean water and fresh air are to the physical body.

Growth is not an objective in itself; we should be concerned with standards of living.

Whatever there is of greatness in the United States, or indeed in any other country, is due to labor. The laborer is the author of all greatness and wealth. Without labor there would be no government, no leading class, and nothing to preserve.

There is no real wealth but the labour of man. Were the mountains of gold and the valleys of silver, the world would not be one grain of corn the richer; no one comfort would be added to the human race.

The question is not whether we wish to see everybody as well off as possible. Among men of good will such an aim can be taken for granted. The real question concerns the proper means of achieving it. And in trying to answer this we must never lose sight of a few elementary truisms. We cannot distribute more wealth than is created. We cannot in the long run pay labor as a whole more than it produces.

It is labor that has made the world a fit habitation for the human race.

owning capital is not a productive activity.

The wealth of society is its stock of productive labor.

I believe we live in a positive sum world and wealth isn't just taken or moved around; it's mostly created.

I always said... I want to be the one who creates jobs. I want to be the guy who develops the wealth of the nation.

We should be encouraging people to earn a lot of money. I do not know one wealthy person who does not spend money - and most of them employ other people.

Democracy, material wealth, and universal education are the soil upon which modernism exists.

My dream is to make families a place where adults with high self esteem can develop. I think we have reached a point where if we don't get busy on dreams of this sort, our end is in sight. We need a world that is as good for human beings as it is for technology.

I believe that solution to all problems is in development. Development is also the solution to the tension that people talk about.

Don't let's lose sight of what creates wealth. It is open markets, it is capitalism.

The business society is interested in training its citizens to make money, and, in this objective, it is often successful. Many of them do make money, and the ones who do not obligingly regard themselves as failures who have wasted the precious gift of life.

The skills and productivity of American Workers, not to mention the taxes they pay, are the greatest economic resource our country has. To condemn large numbers of them to unemployment, to deprive the Treasury of their tax contributions and to force them to live on unemployment at public expense is the most expensive luxury any society ever chose to buy.

Wealth is the product of energy times intelligence: energy turned into artifacts that advantage human life.

The essence of wealth is the capacity to control the forces of nature, and the extent of wealth depends upon the level of technology and the ability to create new knowledge.

For every minute that I spin, there is in me the consciousness that I am adding to the nation's wealth.

Nothing is more common than energy in money-making, quite independent of any higher object than its accumulation. A man who devotes himself to this pursuit, body and soul, can scarcely fail to become rich. Very little brains will do; spend less than you earn; add guinea to guinea; scrape and save; and the pile of gold will gradually rise.

Wealth is the means, and people are the ends. All our material riches will avail us little if we do not use them to expand the opportunities of our people.

The true wealth of a state consists in the number of its inhabitants, in their toil and industry.

The substance of man cannot be measured by Gross National Product.