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

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In One Important Sense,

Joseph A. Schumpeter

Topic

Evil

Judging

Important

More From Joseph A. Schumpeter

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.

War

Simple

Despair

The Ballot Is Stronger Than Bullets.

Stronger

Bullets

Ballots

For One Thing, To Predict The Advent Of Big Business Was Considering The Conditions Of Marx's Day An Achievement In Itself.

Achievement

Advent

Bigs

The Capitalist Engine Is First And Last An Engine Of Mass Production Which Unavoidably Also Means Production For The Masses. . . . It Is The Cheap Cloth, The Cheap Cotton And Rayon Fabric, Boots, Motorcars And So On That Are The Typical Achievements Of Capitalist Production, And Not As A Rule Improvements That Would Mean Much To The Rich Man. Queen Elizabeth Owned Silk Stockings. The Capitalist Achievement Does Not Typically Consist In Providing More Silk Stockings For Queens But In Bringing Them Within Reach Of Factory Girls.

Girl

Queens

Mean

In Economic Life Competition Is Never Completely Lacking, But Hardly Ever Is It Perfect.

Perfect

Competition

Economic

Those Revolutions Are Not Strictly Incessant; They Occur In Discrete Rushes Which Are Separated From Each Other By Spans Of Comparative Quiet. The Process As A Whole Works Incessantly However, In The Sense That There Always Is Either Revolution Or Absorption Of The Results Of Revolution, Both Together Forming What Are Known As Business Cycles.

Business

Together

Revolution

Pessimistic Visions About Almost Anything Always Strike The Public As More Erudite Than Optimistic Ones

Optimistic

Vision

Investing

Why Should We Stunt Our Ambitions And Impoverish Our Lives In Order To Be Insulted And Looked Down Upon In Our Old Age?

Ambition

Order

Age

Things Economic And Social Move By Their Own Momentum And The Ensuing Situations Compel Individuals And Groups To Behave In Certain Ways Whatever They May Wish To Do-not Indeed By Destroying Their Freedom Of Choice But By Shaping The Choosing Mentalities And By Narrowing The List Of Possibilities From Which To Choose.

Moving

Choices

Wish

To The Believer Marxism Presents, First, A System Of Ultimate Ends That Embody The Meaning Of Life And Are Absolute Standards By Which To Judge Events And Actions.

Judging

Religion

Firsts

The Function Of Entrepreneurs Is To Reform Or Revolutionize The Pattern Of Production By Exploiting An Invention Or, More Generally, An Untried Technological Possibility For Producing A New Commodity Or Producing An Old One In A New Way, By Opening Up A New Source Of Supply Of Materials Or A New Outlet For Products, By Reorganizing An Industry And So On.

Opening Up

Entrepreneur

Reform

The Metal Of Economic Theory Is In Marx's Pages Immersed In Such A Wealth Of Steaming Phrases As To Acquire A Temperature Not Naturally Its Own.

Temperature

Phrases

Pages

For The Duration Of Its Collective Life, Or The Time During Which Its Identity May Be Assumed, Each Class Resembles A Hotel Or An Omnibus, Always Full, But Always Of Different People.

Class

People

Identity

The First Thing A Man Will Do For His Ideals Is Lie.

Lying

Men

Firsts

The Very Foundation Of Private Property And Free Contracting Wears Away In A Nation In Which Its Most Vital, Most Concrete, Most Meaningful Types Of Private Property And Free Contracting Disappear From The Moral Horizon Of The People.

Meaningful

People

Foundation

This Civilization Is Rapidly Passing Away, However. Let Us Rejoice Or Else Lament The Fact As Much As Everyone Of Us Likes; But Do Not Let Us Shut Our Eyes To It.

Eye

Civilization

Passing Away

It Is, After All, Only Common Sense To Realize That, But For The Fact That Economic Life Is A Process Of Incessant Internal Change, The Business Cycle, As We Know It, Would Not Exist.

Business

Common Sense

Facts

Gentlemen, A Depression Is For Capitalism Like A Good, Cold Douche.

Gentleman

Cold

Douches

The Success Of Everything Depends On Intuition, The Capacity Of Seeing Things In A Way Which Afterwards Proves To Be True, Even Though It Cannot Be Established At The Moment, And Of Grasping The Essential Fact, Discarding The Unessential, Even Though One Can Give No Account Of The Principles By Which This Is Done.

Giving

Intuition

Principles

Want And Effective Demand Are Not The Same Thing. If They Were, The Poorest Nations Would Be The Ones To Display The Most Vigorous Demand.

Would Be

Demand

Want

Innovation Is The Market Introduction Of A Technical Or Organisational Novelty, Not Just Its Invention.

Innovation

Novelty

Invention

Can Capitalism Survive? No. I Do Not Think It Can.

Thinking

Capitalism

Nothing Is So Retentive As A Nation's Memory.

Memories

Nations

The Essential Point To Grasp Is That In Dealing With Capitalism We Are Dealing With An Evolutionary Process

Essentials

Creative Destruction

Economics

I Know That It Is Not Enough To Be Remembered For Books And Theories. One Does Not Make A Difference Unless It Is A Difference In People's Lives.

Book

Differences

People

I Set Out To Become The Greatest Lover In Vienna, The Greatest Horseman In Austria, And The Greatest Economist In The World. Alas, For The Illusions Of Youth: As A Horseman, I Was Never Really First-rate.

Vienna

Austria

World

Geniuses And Prophets Do Not Usually Excel In Professional Learning, And Their Originality, If Any, Is Often Due Precisely To The Fact That They Do Not.

Genius

Facts

Originality

We Always Plan Too Much And Always Think Too Little.

Business

Thinking

Littles

Creative Destruction Is The Essential Fact About Capitalism.

Creative

Essentials

Facts

The Perennial Gale Of Creative Destruction

Creative

Gale

Economics

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.

Religious

Attitude

Errors

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.

Common Sense

Innovation

Problem

At The Heart Of Capitalism Is Creative Destruction.

Heart

Creative

Destruction

There Exists No More Democratic Institution Than The Market

Institutions

Democratic

The Modern Mind Dislikes Gold Because It Blurts Out Unpleasant Truths.

Mind

Gold

Modern

The Typical Citizen Drops Down To A Lower Level Of Mental Performance As Soon As He Enters The Political Field. He Argues And Analyzes In A Way Which He Would Readily Recognize As Infantile Within The Sphere Of His Real Interests. He Becomes Primitive Again.

Real

Political

Typical

Situations Emerge In The Process Of Creative Destruction In Which Many Firms May Have To Perish That Nevertheless Would Be Able To Live On Vigorously And Usefully If They Could Weather A Particular Storm.

Weather

Creative

Storm

Bureaucracy Is Not An Obstacle To Democracy But An Inevitable Complement To It.

Democracy

Obstacles

Rebellious

Access To The National Dividend Is Usually To Be Had Only On Condition Of Some Productive Service Previously Rendered Or Of Some Product Previously Sold. This Condition Is, In This Case, Not Yet Fulfilled. It Will Be Fulfilled Only After The Successful Completion Of The New Combinations. Hence This Credit Will In The Meantime Affect The Price Level.

Successful

Credit

Levels

As A Matter Of Fact, Capitalist Economy Is Not And Cannot Be Stationary. Nor Is It Merely Expanding In A Steady Manner. It Is Incessantly Being Revolutionized From Within By New Enterprise, I.e., By The Intrusion Of New Commodities Or New Methods Of Production Or New Commercial Opportunities Into The Industrial Structure As It Exists At Any Moment.

Opportunity

Capitalist Economy

Matter

Recognition Of The Inevitability Of Comprehensive Bureaucratization Does Not Solve The Problems That Arise Out Of It.

Doe

Recognition

Problem

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.

Hate

Believe

Thinking

There Is Another Method Of Obtaining Money... It Does Not Presuppose The Existence Of Accumulated Results Of Previous Development, And Hence May Be Considered As The Only One Which Is Available In Strict Logic. This Method Of Obtaining Money Is The Creation Of Purchasing Power By Banks. The Form It Takes Is Immaterial.

Doe

Development

May

Entrepreneurial Profit Is The Expression Of The Value Of What The Entrepreneur Contributes To Production.

Expression

Entrepreneur

Profit

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.

Men

Often Is

Perspective

The Evolution Of The Capitalist Style Of Life Could Be Easily - And Perhaps Most Tellingly - Described In Terms Of The Genesis Of The Modern Lounge Suit.

Nothing Is So Treacherous As The Obvious.

Obvious

Treacherous

The State Has Been Living On A Revenue Which Was Being Produced In The Private Sphere For Private Purposes And Had To Be Deflected From These Purposes By Political Force. The Theory That Construes Taxes On The Analogy Of Club Dues Or Of The Purchase Of The Services Of, Say, A Doctor Only Proves How Far Removed This Part Of The Social Sciences Is From Scientific Habits Of Mind.

Doctors

Political

Mind

The Banker, Therefore, Is Not So Much Primarily A Middleman In The Commodity "purchasing Power" As A Producer Of This Commodity. However, Since All Reserve Funds And Savings Today Usually Flow To Him, And The Total Demand For Free Purchasing Power, Whether Existing Or To Be Created, Concentrates On Him, He Has Either Replaced Private Capitalists Or Become Their Agent; He Has Himself Become The Capitalist Par Excellence.

Excellence

Bankers

Saving

Success Depends On Intuition, On Seeing What Afterwards Proves True But Cannot Be Established At The Moment.

Intuition

Moments

Prove

The Spirit Of A People, Its Cultural Level, Its Social Structure, The Deeds Its Policy May Prepare—all This And More Is Written In Its Fiscal History, Stripped Of All Phrases. He Who Knows How To Listen To Its Message Here Discerns The Thunder Of World History More Clearly Than Anywhere Else.

People

Phrases

World

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.

Freedom

Democracy

Trials

The Strategic Stimulus To Economic Development In Schumpeter's Analysis Is Innovation, Defined As The Commercial Or Industrial Application Of Something New---a New Product, Process Or Method Of Production, A New Market Or Source Of Supply, A New Form Of Commercial, Business Or Financial Organization.

Organization

Innovation

Analysis

Economic Progress, In Capitalist Society, Means Turmoil.

Mean

Progress

Economics

Profit Is The Payment You Get When You Take Advantage Of Change.

Advantage

Profit

Payment

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.

Generations

Looks

Inferiority

Capitalism Inevitably And By Virtue Of The Very Logic Of Its Civilization Creates, Educates And Subsidizes A Vested Interest In Social Unrest.

Social Unrest

Civilization

Logic

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.

Girl

Queens

Achievement

Capitalism Survive?—i Have Tried To Show That A Socialist Form Of Society Will Inevitably Emerge From An Equally Inevitable Decomposition Of Capitalist Society.

Decomposition

Form

Inevitable

To Realize The Relative Validity Of One's Convictions And Yet Stand For Them Unflinchingly Is What Distinguishes A Civilized Man From A Barbarian.

Men

Barbarians

Realizing

Innovations Are Changes Which Cannot Be Decomposed Into Infinitessimal Steps.

Innovation

Steps

The Trouble With Russia Is Not That She Is Socialist But That She Is Russia.

Russia

Trouble

Socialist

The Stock Exchange Is A Poor Substitute For The Holy Grail.

Holy Grail

Poor

Substitutes

The Capitalist Process Shapes Things And Souls For Socialism.

Soul

Shapes

Socialism

The Intellectual And Social Climate Needed To Allow Entrepreneurship To Thrive Will Not Exist In Advanced Capitalism.

Intellectual

Climate

Investing

All We Can Thus Far Say About The Duration Of The Units Of [the Business Cycle] And Each Of [its] Two Phases Is That It Will Depend On The Nature Of The Particular Innovations That Carry A Cycle,... And The Financial Conditions And Habits Prevailing In The Business Community In Each Case.

Business

Two

Community

Capitalism Stands Its Trial Before Judges Who Have The Sentence Of Death In Their Pockets. They Are Going To Pass It, Whatever The Defense They May Hear; The Only Success Victorious Defense Can Possibly Produce Is A Change In The Indictment.

Judging

Pockets

Defense

Our Poverty Will Be Brought Home To Us To Its Full Extent Only After The War.

Peace

War

Home

Democracy Is A Political Method, That Is To Say, A Certain Type Of Institutional Arrangement For Arriving At Political — Legislative And Administrative — Decisions And Hence Incapable Of Being An End In Itself.

Decision

Political

Democracy

Marxism Is Essentially A Product Of The Bourgeois Mind.

Mind

Marxism

Products

Politicians Are Like Bad Horsemen Who Are So Preoccupied With Staying In The Saddle That They Can't Bother About Where They're Going.

Politician

Saddles

Bother

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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