| Ludwig von Mises | Without speculation there can be no economic activity reaching beyond the immediate present. | Socialism | p. 125 | Speculation |
| Ludwig von Mises | Speculation is the link that binds isolated economic action to the economic activity of society as a whole. | Socialism | p. 182 | Speculation |
| Ludwig von Mises | Speculation in the capitalist system performs a function which must be performed in any economic system however organized: it provides for the adjustment of supply and demand over time and space. | Socialism | p. 125 | Speculation |
| Ludwig von Mises | Speculation performs an economic service which cannot conceivably be eliminated from any economic system. | Socialism | p. 125 | Speculation |
| Ludwig von Mises | Every action is a speculation, i.e., guided by a definite opinion concerning the uncertain conditions of the future. | The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science | p. 51 | Speculation |
| Ludwig von Mises | The influence of speculation cannot alter the average level of prices over a given period; what it can do is to diminish the gap between the highest and the lowest prices. Price fluctuations are reduced by speculation, not aggravated, as the popular legend has it. | The Theory of Money and Credit | p. 286 | Speculation |
| Ludwig von Mises | Speculation anticipates future price changes; its economic function consists in evening out price differences between different places and different points in time and, through the pressure which prices exert on production and consumption, in adapting stocks and demands to each other. | Nation, State, and Economy | p. 145 | Speculation |