From The Quotable Mises — surrounding passage

The difference between the valuation of two states of affairs is entirely psychical and personal. It is not open to any projection into the external world. It can be sensed only by the individual. It cannot be communicated or imparted to any fellow man. Human Action , p. 97; p. 97 There is no yardstick to measure the aesthetic worth of a poem or of a building. The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality , p. 75 There is no method available to construct a unit of value. Human Action , p. 206; p. 205

“Value is not intrinsic. It is not in things and conditions but in the valuing subject.”

Theory and History , p. 23 There are no such things as absolute values, independent of the subjective preferences of erring men. Judgments of values are the outcome of human arbitrariness. They reflect all the shortcomings and weaknesses of their authors. Bureaucracy , p.