Ludwig von Mises on creativity and innovation

These days, people tend to believe the government needs to stimulate innovation. As Mises pointed out, the government can't stimulate innovation. It can only hinder it.

Ludwig von Mises:

The creative spirit innovates necessarily. It must press forward. It must destroy the old and set the new in its place. It could not conceivably be relieved of this burden. If it were it would cease to be a pioneer. Progress cannot be organized.... Society can do nothing to aid progress. If it does not load the individual with quiet unbreakable chains, if it does not surround the prison in which it encloses him with quite insurmountable walls, it has done all that can be expected of it. Genius will soon find a way to win its own freedom.