Ideas

Only ideas can overcome ideas.

Socialism, p. 460

We must fight all that we dislike in public life. We must substitute better ideas for wrong ideas. We must refute the doctrines that promote union violence.

Economic Policy, p. 105

Everything that happens in the social world in our time is the result of ideas. Good things and bad things. What is needed is to fight bad ideas. We must oppose the confiscation of property, the control of prices, inflation, and all those evils from which we suffer.

Economic Policy, p. 105

Both force and money are impotent against ideas.

Omnipotent Government, p. 210

The ideas that change the intellectual climate of a given environment are those unheard of before. For these new ideas there is no other explanation than that there was a man from whose mind they originated.

The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science, p. 91

One cannot “organize” or “institutionalize” the emergence of new ideas.

The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science, p. 129

In a battle between force and an idea, the latter always prevails.

Liberalism, p. 50

Great conflicts of ideas must be solved by straight and frank methods; they cannot be solved by artifices and makeshifts.

Planning for Freedom, p. 14

Thoughts and ideas are not phantoms. They are real things. Although intangible and immaterial, they are factors in bringing about changes in the realm of tangible and material things.

Theory and History, p. 96

No mass phenomenon can be adequately treated without analyzing the ideas implied. And no new ideas spring from the mythical mind of the masses.

Theory and History, p. 263

In the long run even the most despotic governments with all their brutality and cruelty are no match for ideas. Eventually the ideology that has won the support of the majority will prevail and cut the ground from under the tyrant’s feet. Then the oppressed many will rise in rebellion and overthrow their masters.

Theory and History, p. 372

Ideas live longer than walls and other material artifacts.

Theory and History, p. 196

No one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interests of everyone hang on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.

Socialism, pp. 468–69