Jobs and Mises on Creative Action

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful... that’s what matters to me.

Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. (...) Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
– Steve Jobs

Far above the millions that come and pass away tower the pioneers, the men whose deeds and ideas cut out new paths for mankind. For the pioneering genius to create is the essence of life. To live means for him to create. (...) His incentive is not the desire to bring about a result, but the act of producing it.

The creative genius is at variance with his fellow citizens. As the pioneer of things new and unheard of he is in conflict with their uncritical acceptance of traditional standards and values.

These pioneers and originators of things unheard of do not produce and work in the sense in which these terms are employed in dealing with the affairs of other people. They do not let themselves be influenced by the response their work meets on the part of their contemporaries. They do not wait for encouragement.
- Ludwig von Mises

PS. Contrast the above with the claim that von Mises was a poor student of human nature.

A Brief but Obligatory Tribute to Jobs

In a world in which the majority of opinion-forming outlets have been lately spewing forth economic nonsense of the most vulgar kind, including the claims that value destruction brings prosperity, spending and indebtedness drive economic development, and large-scale creation of colored paper tickets or virtual bookkeeping entries can create real wealth, Jobs and Apple were an island of sanity, a reminder that there are no short-cuts to changing the world for the better, and no paths leading to that goal other than the ethos of hard work, advanced specialization and division of labor, long-term investments leading to the accumulation of productive capital, innovative vision, and keen entrepreneurial foresight.

He was the creative genius of our age, so if there are any people who genuinely deserve celebration, he was no doubt one of them.