We always plan too much and always think too little. We resent a call to thinking and hate unfamiliar argument that does not tally with what we already believe or would like to believe. Joseph A. Schumpeter More Quotes by Joseph A. Schumpeter More Quotes From Joseph A. Schumpeter Pessimistic visions about almost anything always strike the public as more erudite than optimistic ones Joseph A. Schumpeter investing optimistic vision In one important sense, Marxism is a religion. To the believer it presents, first, a system of ultimate ends that embody the meaning of life and are absolute standards by which to judge events and actions; and, secondly, a guide to those ends which implies a plan of salvation and the indication of the evil from which mankind, or a chosen section of mankind, is to be saved. Joseph A. Schumpeter important judging evil The modern mind dislikes gold because it blurts out unpleasant truths. Joseph A. Schumpeter modern gold mind There exists no more democratic institution than the market Joseph A. Schumpeter institutions democratic The essential point to grasp is that in dealing with capitalism we are dealing with an evolutionary process Joseph A. Schumpeter creative-destruction economics essentials Lack of outlets, excess capacity, complete deadlock, in the end regular recurrence of national bankruptcies and other disasters-perhaps world wars from sheer capitalist despair-may confidently be anticipated. History is as simple a that. Joseph A. Schumpeter despair simple war It is quite possible that future generations will look upon arguments about the inferiority of the socialist plan as we look upon Adam Smith's argument about joint stock companies which, also, were simply false. Joseph A. Schumpeter inferiority generations looks Bureaucracy is not an obstacle to democracy but an inevitable complement to it. Joseph A. Schumpeter obstacles rebellious democracy Entrepreneurial profit is the expression of the value of what the entrepreneur contributes to production. Joseph A. Schumpeter profit entrepreneur expression Economic progress, in capitalist society, means turmoil. Joseph A. Schumpeter economics progress mean It is however always important to remember that the ability to see things in their correct perspective may be, and often is, divorced from the ability to reason correctly and vice versa. That is why a man may be a very good theorist and yet talk absolute nonsense. Joseph A. Schumpeter often-is perspective men Can capitalism survive? No. I do not think it can. Joseph A. Schumpeter capitalism thinking The intellectual and social climate needed to allow entrepreneurship to thrive will not exist in advanced capitalism. Joseph A. Schumpeter investing climate intellectual It is not true that democracy will always safeguard freedom of conscience better than autocracy. Witness the most famous of all trials. Pilate was, from the standpoint of the Jews, certainly the representative of autocracy. Yet he tried to protect freedom. And he yielded to a democracy. Joseph A. Schumpeter democracy freedom trials Surely, nothing can be more plain or even more trite common sense than the proposition that innovation [...] is at the center of practically all the phenomena, difficulties, and problems of economic life in capitalist society. Joseph A. Schumpeter common-sense innovation problem The religious quality of Marxism also explains a characteristic attitude of the orthodox Marxist toward opponents. To him, as to any believer in a Faith, the opponent is not merely in error but in sin. Dissent is disapproved of not only intellectually but also morally. There cannot be any excuse for it once the Message has been revealed. Joseph A. Schumpeter errors religious attitude Capitalism Survive?—I have tried to show that a socialist form of society will inevitably emerge from an equally inevitable decomposition of capitalist society. Joseph A. Schumpeter decomposition inevitable form The capitalist process shapes things and souls for socialism. Joseph A. Schumpeter socialism shapes soul The capitalist achievement does not typically consist in providing more silk stocking for queens but in bringing them within the reach of factory girls in return for a steadily decreasing amount of effort. Joseph A. Schumpeter achievement queens girl Marxism is essentially a product of the bourgeois mind. Joseph A. Schumpeter marxism products mind
