There are always a few, better endowed than others, who feel the weight
of the yoke and cannot restrain themselves from attempting to shake it
off.... These are in fact the men who, possessed of clear minds and
far-sighted spirit, are not satisfied, like the brutish mass, to see
only what is at their feet, but rather look about them, behind and
before, and even recall the things of the past in order to judge those
of the future, and compare both with their present condition. These are
the ones who, having good minds of their own, have further trained them
by study and learning. Even if liberty had entirely perished from the
earth, such men would reinvent it.  For them slavery has no
satisfactions, no matter how well disguised.

                                 --Etienne de la Boetie
                                 _The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude_

I can think of no words more appropriate to mark the loss of Murray
Rothbard than this passage.  The revival of interest in la Boetie's
thought is but one tiny piece of Rothbard's contribution to the
theory of libertarianism.  Much as I disagreed with some of his recent
positions on current events, in all honesty I owe him a profound
intellectual debt which I can never truly repay.

In the end, I think that Rothbard will be most remembered for his
ringing defense of the free-market anarchist position.  Many 
libertarians came to this view via the writings of David Friedman;
but the earliest realization of the economic feasibility and moral
necessity of the abolition of even the nightwatchman state must be
attributed to Rothbard.  (And if I understand matters correctly, 
it was only after developing the anarcho-capitalist position that
Rothbard uncovered such proto-anarcho-capitalists as Gustave de
Molinari and Benjamin Tucker.)

Rothbard's early death is a loss to all libertarians.  A great voice
for liberty has been quelled.  It is my deepest hope that his work
will now be studied on its own merits, and that the lingering bitterness
that Rothbard's strong personality often provoked will be forgotten when
seen in the full context of his immense intellectual contribution to
human freedom.
                              --Bryan Caplan
                                Department of Economics
                                Princeton University