A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both. Milton Friedman More Quotes by Milton Friedman More Quotes From Milton Friedman Since the 1930s the technique of buying votes with the voters' own money has been expanded to an extent undreamed of by earlier politicians. Milton Friedman voters politics technique There's no such thing as a free lunch. Milton Friedman ecological-crisis lunch-break economics I would say that in this world, the greatest source of inequality has been special privileges granted by government. Milton Friedman government special world Humility is the distinguishing virtue of the believer in freedom; arrogance, of the paternalist. Milton Friedman virtue arrogance humility Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else's resources as carefully as he uses his own. So if you want efficiency and effectiveness, if you want knowledge to be properly utilized, you have to do it through the means of private property. Milton Friedman wisdom mean knowledge There is one and only one responsibility of business: to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game. Milton Friedman business responsibility games The proper role of government is exactly what John Stuart Mill said in the middle of the 19th century in "On Liberty." The proper role of government is to prevent other people from harming an individual. Government, he said, never has any right to interfere with an individual for that individual's own good. Milton Friedman political government people The combination of economic and political power in the same hands is a sure recipe for tyranny. Milton Friedman democracy political hands Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. Milton Friedman sarcasm sarcastic rights I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or it they try, they will shortly be out of office. Milton Friedman office believe people Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable. Milton Friedman real change lying Drugs are a tragedy for addicts. But criminalizing their use converts that tragedy into a disaster for society, for users and non-users alike. Our experience with the prohibition of drugs is a replay of our experience with the prohibition of alcoholic beverages. Milton Friedman drug tragedy use Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government. Milton Friedman government philosophy people The excuse for the destruction of liberty is always the plea of necessary ' that there is no alternative Milton Friedman alternatives excuse liberty What makes it [economics] most fascinating is that its fundamental principles are so simple that they can be written on one page, that anyone can understand them, and yet very few do. Milton Friedman principles simple fundamentals With some notable exceptions, businessmen favor free enterprise in general but are opposed to it when it comes to themselves. Milton Friedman notable businessman favors The key insight of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is misleadingly simple: if an exchange between two parties is voluntary, it will not take place unless both believe they will benefit from it. Most economic fallacies derive from the neglect of this simple insight, from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another. Milton Friedman party simple believe The great danger to the consumer is the monopoly -whether private or governmental. His most effective protection is free competition at home and free trade throughout the world. The consumer is protected from being exploited by one seller by the existence of another seller from whom he can buy and who is eager to sell to him. Alternative sources of supply protect the consumer far more effectively than all the Ralph Naders of the world. Milton Friedman competition alternatives home Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation. Milton Friedman taxation political business When a private enterprise fails, it is closed down; when a government enterprise fails, it is expanded. Isn't that exactly what's been happening with drugs? Milton Friedman marijuana weed government
