Ludwig von Mises Quotes

Reason can no more influence the will, and operate as a motive, than the eyes which show a man his road can enable him to move from place to place, or that a ship provided with a compass can sail without a wind.

In the space between stimulus (what happens) and how we respond, lies our freedom to choose. Ultimately, this power to choose is what defines us as human beings. We may have limited choices but we can always choose. We can choose our thoughts, emotions, moods, our words, our actions; we can choose our values and live by principles. It is the choice of acting or being acted upon.

You can do what you decide to do — but you cannot decide what you will decide to do.

We are product of neither nature nor nurture; we are a product of choice, because there is always a space between stimulus and response. As we wisely exercise our power to choose based on principles, the space will become larger.

But man is freer than all the animals, on account of his free-will, with which he is endowed above all other animals.

Conduct, which involves a decision of the ultimate fate of the agent cannot be based on illusions.

The real key is to live in an environment where the mind feels free to choose the right thing instead of being compelled by habit and inertia to choose the wrong thing.

Human freedom involves our capacity to pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight.

I like characters that make choices and try to drive their own fate.

You always do what you want to do. This is true with every act. You may say that you had to do something, or that you were forced to, but actually, whatever you do, you do by choice. Only you have the power to choose for yourself.

It is the ability to choose which makes us human.

Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.

Your mind is a tool you can choose to use any way you wish.

Fundamentally, we are a product of choice, not nature (genes) or nurture (upbringing, environment).

Reason also is choice.

Forgiveness is not an emotion; it is an act of the will.

Human freedom involves our capacity to pause between the stimulus and response and, in that pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight. The capacity to create ourselves, based upon this freedom, is inseparable from consciousness or self-awareness. (p. 100)

We can choose, you know, we ain't no amoeba.

Your will shall decide your destiny.

It is not the temptations you have, but the decision you make about them that counts.

And Beasts that have Deliberation , must necessarily also have Will .

A man can surely do what he wills to do, but cannot determine what he wills.

Of course there’s destiny, but destiny doesn’t push you where you don’t want to go. You’re the ones who choose. Destiny is up to you.

It's the choosing that's important, isn't it?

Tis weak and vicious people who cast the blame on Fate. The right use of Fate is to bring up our conduct to the loftiness of nature.