Action

Human action is purposeful behavior.

Human Action, p. 11; p. 11

Human life is an unceasing sequence of single actions.

Human Action, p. 45; p. 45

Action is purposive conduct. It is not simply behavior, but behavior begot by judgments of value, aiming at a definite end and guided by ideas concerning the suitability or unsuitability of definite means. . . . It is conscious behavior. It is choosing. It is volition; it is a display of the will.

The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science, p. 34

Man thinks not only for the sake of thinking, but also in order to act.

Epistemological Problems of Economics, p. 37

Economics, as a branch of the more general theory of human action, deals with all human action, i.e., with man’s purposive aiming at the attainment of ends chosen, whatever these ends may be.

Human Action, p. 880; p. 884

Action is a display of potency and control that are limited. It is a manifestation of man who is restrained by the circumscribed powers of his mind, the physiological nature of his body, the vicissitudes of his environment, and the scarcity of external factors on which his welfare depends.

Human Action, p. 70; p. 70

Action is an attempt to substitute a more satisfactory state of affairs for a less satisfactory one. We call such a willfully induced alteration an exchange.

Human Action, p. 97; p. 97

Most actions do not aim at anybody’s defeat or loss. They aim at an improvement in conditions.

Human Action, p. 116; p. 116

The vigorous man industriously striving for the improvement of his condition acts neither more nor less than the lethargic man who sluggishly takes things as they come. For to do nothing and to be idle are also action, they too determine the course of events.

Human Action, p. 13; p. 13

Man’s striving after an improvement of the conditions of his existence impels him to action. Action requires planning and the decision which of various plans is the most advantageous.

The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science, p. 90

In the land of the lotus-eaters there is no action. Action arises only from need, from dissatisfaction. It is purposeful striving towards something. Its ultimate end is always to get rid of a condition which is conceived to be deficient—to fulfill a need, to achieve satisfaction, to increase happiness.

Socialism, p. 97

All rational action is in the first place individual action. Only the individual thinks. Only the individual reasons. Only the individual acts.

Socialism, p. 97