Murray Rothbard quotes

Murray Rothbard was an American economist, historian, and political theorist, widely recognized as a leading figure in the Austrian School of economics. His work laid the foundations for modern libertarian thought and strongly advocated for individual liberty and free markets. He became influential through his prolific writing and steadfast defense of anarcho-capitalism. Here are 76 of his quotes:

Subjectivism is not an absolute principle; it is a necessary but not sufficient condition for sound methodology.

Murray Rothbard

There is one good thing about Marx: he was not a Keynesian.

Murray Rothbard

The natural tendency of the state is inflation.

Murray Rothbard

Inflation, being a fraudulent invasion of property, could not take place on the free market.

Murray Rothbard

It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.

Murray Rothbard

This, by the way, is the welfare state in action: Its a whole bunch of special interest groups screwing consumers and taxpayers, and making them think they're really benefiting.

Murray Rothbard

It is clearly absurd to limit the term 'education' to a person's formal schooling.

Murray Rothbard

In short, the early receivers of the new money in this market chain of events gain at the expense of those who receive the money toward the end of the chain, and still worse losers are the people (e. g., those on fixed incomes such as annuities, interest, or pensions) who never receive the new money at all.

Murray Rothbard

If you wish to know how libertarians regard the State and any of its acts, simply think of the State as a criminal band, and all of the libertarian attitudes will logically fall into place.

Murray Rothbard

All government wars are unjust.

Murray Rothbard

If a man has the right to self-ownership, to the control of his life, then in the real world he must also have the right to sustain his life by grappling with and transforming resources; he must be able to own the ground and the resources on which he stands and which he must use. In short, to sustain his "human right."

Murray Rothbard

I define anarchist society as one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual.

Murray Rothbard

Harold, the young kids out there are not going to be willing to go to the barricades in defense of lowered transaction costs.

Murray Rothbard

The more consistently Austrian School an economist is, the better a writer he will be.

Murray Rothbard

It is curious that people tend to regard government as a quasi-divine, selfless, Santa Claus organization. Government was constructed neither for ability nor for the exercise of loving care; government was built for the use of force and for necessarily demagogic appeals for votes. If individuals do not know their own interests in many cases, they are free to turn to private experts for guidance. It is absurd to say that they will be served better by a coercive, demagogic apparatus.

Murray Rothbard

Briefly, the State is that organization in society which attempts to maintain a monopoly of the use of force and violence in a given territorial area; in particular, it is the only organization in society that obtains its revenue not by voluntary contribution or payment for services rendered but by coercion.

Murray Rothbard

Behind the honeyed but patently absurd pleas for equality is a ruthless drive for placing themselves (the elites) at the top of a new hierarchy of power.

Murray Rothbard

So: if the chronic inflation undergone by Americans, and in almost every other country, is caused by the continuing creation of new money, and if in each country its governmental "Central Bank" (in the United States, the Federal Reserve) is the sole monopoly source and creator of all money, who then is responsible for the blight of inflation? Who except the very institution that is solely empowered to create money, that is, the Fed (and the Bank of England, and the Bank of Italy, and other central banks) itself?

Murray Rothbard

John Stuart was the quintessence of soft rather than hardcore, a woolly minded man of mush in striking contrast to his steel-edged father.

Murray Rothbard

It is easy to be conspicuously 'compassionate' if others are being forced to pay the cost.

Murray Rothbard

The libertarian creed...offers the fulfillment of the best of the American past along with the promise of a far better future. Libertarians are squarely in the great classical liberal tradition that built the United States and bestowed on us the American heritage of individual liberty, a peaceful foreign policy, minimal government, and a free-market economy.

Murray Rothbard

It doesn't matter what the supply of money is.

Murray Rothbard