Is there a greater tragedy imaginable than that, in our endeavour consciously to shape our future in accordance with high ideals, we should in fact unwittingly produce the very opposite of what we have been striving for? Friedrich August von Hayek More Quotes by Friedrich August von Hayek More Quotes From Friedrich August von Hayek The idea of social justice is that the state should treat different people unequally in order to make them equal. Friedrich August von Hayek order people ideas If socialists understood economics, they wouldn't be socialist. Friedrich August von Hayek socialist economics politics Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions. Liberty and responsibility are inseparable. Friedrich August von Hayek freedom responsibility mean There is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal. Friedrich August von Hayek differences liberty people [Socialistic] economic planning, regulation, and intervention pave the way to totalitarianism by building a power structure that will inevitably be seized by the most power-hungry and unscrupulous. Friedrich August von Hayek regulation planning way What our generation has forgotten is that the system of private property is the most important guarantee of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not. It is only because the control of the means of production is divided among many people acting independently that nobody has complete power over us, that we as individuals can decide what to do with ourselves. Friedrich August von Hayek our-generation mean people The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. Friedrich August von Hayek design liberty men Capitalism is not only a better form of organizing human activity than any deliberate design, any attempt to organize it to satisfy particular preferences, to aim at what people regard as beautiful or pleasant order, but it is also the indispensable condition for just keeping that population alive which exists already in the world. I regard the preservation of what is known as the capitalist system, of the system of free markets and the private ownership of the means of production, as an essential condition of the very survival of mankind. Friedrich August von Hayek beautiful order mean Liberty is an opportunity for doing good, but this is only so when it is also an opportunity for doing wrong. Friedrich August von Hayek doing-good liberty opportunity If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion. Friedrich August von Hayek essentials liberty wish 'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded. Friedrich August von Hayek liberty historical war Human reason can neither predict nor deliberately shape its own future. Its advances consist in finding out where it has been wrong. Friedrich August von Hayek learning integrity knowledge That democratic socialism, the great utopia of the last few generations, is not only unachievable, but that to strive for it produces something so utterly different that few of those who wish it would be prepared to accept the consequences, many will not believe until the connection has been laid bare in all its aspects. Friedrich August von Hayek democratic-socialism wish believe Few are ready to recognize that the rise of fascism and Nazism was not a reaction against the socialist trends of the preceding period but a necessary outcome of those tendencies. Friedrich August von Hayek reactions trends outcomes The idea that human kind can shape the world according to wish is what I call the fatal conceit Friedrich August von Hayek shapes wish ideas From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently. Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we can achieve either one or the other, but not both at the same time. Friedrich August von Hayek equality law people It seems to be almost a law of human nature that it is easier for people to agree on a negative program - on the hatred of an enemy, on the envy of those better off - than on any positive task. Friedrich August von Hayek envy law people The chief evil is unlimited government, and nobody is qualified to wield unlimited power. Friedrich August von Hayek unlimited government evil Social justice rests on the hate towards those that enjoy a comfortable position, namely, upon envy. Friedrich August von Hayek envy hate justice [T]hose who are willing to surrender their freedom for security have always demanded that if they give up their full freedom it should also be taken from those not prepared to do so. Friedrich August von Hayek surrender giving-up taken
