Forty Conservatives Gems of Wisdom (And A Few of My Own)
John Hawkins has compiled a good list of 40 conservative quotes about economics. As you might expect, it’s heavy on Milton Friedman and Walter Williams. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to make yourself familiar with them so that next time you are accosted by your unfriendly neighborhood collectivist, you can put some real knowledge in his head.
I am little surprised that John’s list is light on a couple other important conservative economic voice. So let me add a few quotes of my own to remedy that.
A claim for equality of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers.
— Friedrich von Hayek
If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion.
— Friedrich von Hayek
Capitalism is not only a better form of organizing human activity than any deliberate design, any attempt to organize it to satisfy particular preferences, to aim at what people regard as beautiful or pleasant order, but it is also the indispensable condition for just keeping that population alive which exists already in the world. I regard the preservation of what is known as the capitalist system, of the system of free markets and the private ownership of the means of production, as an essential condition of the very survival of mankind.
— Friedrich von Hayek
The consumers suffer when the laws of the country prevent the most efficient entrepreneurs from expanding the sphere of their activities. What made some enterprises develop into big business was precisely their success in filling best the demand of the masses.
— Ludwig von Mises
When the collectivist extols the state, what he means is not every state but only that regime of which he approves, no matter whether this legitimate state exists already or has to be created.
— Ludwig von Mises
The social system of private property and limited government is the only system that tends to debarbarize all those who have the innate capacity to acquire personal culture.
— Ludwig von Mises
We have so many people who can’t see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one.
— Ronald Reagan
Now it doesn’t require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed to the — or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property?
— Ronald Reagan
These three quotes seem incredibly appropriate today, do they not?
Imprudent granting of credit is bound to prove just as ruinous to a bank as to any other merchant.
— Ludwig von Mises
It is extremely difficult for our contemporaries to conceive of the conditions of free banking because they take government interference with banking for granted and as necessary.
— Ludwig von Mises
Credit expansion can bring about a temporary boom. But such a fictitious prosperity must end in a general depression of trade, a slump.
— Ludwig von Mises
If you liked the von Mises quote, you can read through a ton of them at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. It’s a satisfying and mind-expanding way to spend a couple hours. The Reagan quotes are from his historic speech “A Time for Choosing”. If you have not heard nor seen it, you should.
Other Posts of Interest:
- President Bush Burns the Economy to Save It.
- Who Wants Markets to Be Free, Really?
- Barack Obama’s New Deal v 2.0
Category: Conservatism, The Economy and Your Money
