There is only one '' principle that can preserve a free society: namely, the strict prevention of all coercion except in the enforcement of general abstract rules equally applicable to all. Friedrich August von Hayek More Quotes by Friedrich August von Hayek More Quotes From Friedrich August von Hayek It is when it is contended that "in a democracy right is what the majority makes it to be" that democracy degenerates into demagoguery. Friedrich August von Hayek degenerates majority democracy Personally I prefer a liberal dictator to democratic government lacking liberalism. Friedrich August von Hayek dictator libertarian government ... that order generated without design can far outstrip plans men consciously contrive Friedrich August von Hayek design men order The problems raised by a conscious direction of economic affairs on a national scale inevitably assume even greater dimensions when the same is attempted internationally. The conflict between planning and freedom cannot but become more serious as the similarity of standards and values among those submitted to a unitary plan diminishes. Friedrich August von Hayek planning dimensions serious Freedom granted only when it is known beforehand that its effects will be beneficial is not freedom. Friedrich August von Hayek granted independence economy To live and work successfully with others requires more than faithfulness to one's concrete aims. It requires an intellectual commitment to a type of order in which, even on issues which to one are fundamental, others are allowed to pursue different ends. It is for this reason that to the liberal neither moral nor religious ideals are proper objects of coercion, while both conservatives and socialists recognize no such limits. Friedrich August von Hayek religious order commitment If most people are not willing to see the difficulty, this is mainly because, consciously or unconsciously, they assume that it will be they who will settle these questions for the others, and because they are convinced of their own capacity to do this. Friedrich August von Hayek settling assuming people We must shed the illusion that we can deliberately 'create the future of mankind' Friedrich August von Hayek future-of-mankind illusion mankind The mind cannot foresee its own advance. Friedrich August von Hayek mind It seems to me that socialists today can preserve their position in academic economics merely by the pretense that the differences are entirely moral questions about which science cannot decide. Friedrich August von Hayek moral differences today Justice, like liberty and coercion, is a concept which, for the sake of clarity, ought to be confined to the deliberate treatment of men by other men. Friedrich August von Hayek liberty justice men Economic transactions between national bodies who are at the same time the supreme judges of their own behavior, who bow to no superior law, and whose representatives cannot be bound by any considerations but the immediate interest of their respective nations, must end in clashes of power. Friedrich August von Hayek bows judging law This is the constitutional limitation of man's knowledge and interests, the fact that he cannot know more than a tiny part of the whole of society and that therefore all that can enter into his motives are the immediate effects which his actions will have in the sphere he knows. Friedrich August von Hayek tiny men facts The chief point we must remember is that the great and rapid advance of the physical sciences took place in fields where it proved that explanation and prediction could be based on laws which accounted for the observed phenomena as functions of comparatively few variables - either particular facts or relative frequencies of events. Friedrich August von Hayek variables events law The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not. Friedrich August von Hayek libertarian liberty important Never will man penetrate deeper into error than when he is continuing on a road which has led him to great success Friedrich August von Hayek continuing-on errors men With the exception only of the period of the gold standard, practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to issue money to defraud and plunder the people. Friedrich August von Hayek issues government people A general flat minimum-wage law for all industry is permissible, but I do not think that it is a particularly wise method of achieving the end. I know much better methods of providing a minimum for everybody. But once you turn from laying down a general minimum for all industry to decreeing particular and different minimum for different industries, then, of course, you make the price mechanism inoperative, because it is no longer the price mechanism which will guide people between industries and trades. Friedrich August von Hayek wise law thinking It is rarely remembered now that socialism in its beginnings was frankly authoritarian. It began quite openly as a reaction against the liberalism of the French Revolution. The French writers who laid its foundation had no doubt that their ideas could be put into practice only by a strong dictatorial government. The first of modern planners, Saint-Simon, predicted that those who did not obey his proposed planning boards would be 'treated as cattle'. Friedrich August von Hayek government strong practice One need not be a prophet to be aware of impending dangers. An accidental combination of experience and interest will often reveal events to one man under aspects which few yet see. Friedrich August von Hayek events men needs
