History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
When you argue for free markets, you are arguing against the trend. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The free market is not only a more efficient decision maker than even the wisest central planning body, but even more important,… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
So long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The Federal Reserve the privately owned U.S. central bank definitely caused The Great Depression by contracting the amount of currency in circulation… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The only reason free markets have a ghost of a chance is that they are so much more efficient than any other… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The essential notion of a capitalist society ... is voluntary cooperation, voluntary exchange. The essential notion of a socialist society is force. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
To the free man, the country is the collection of individuals who compose it, not something over and above them. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Humility is the distinguishing virtue of the believer in freedom; arrogance, of the paternalist. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
. . I think the Adam Smith role was played in this cycle i.e. the late twentieth century collapse of socialism in… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Fundamentally, there are only two ways of coordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Socialism, in the traditional sense, meant government ownership and operation of the means of production. Outside of North Korea and a couple… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition. History suggests that capitalism… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The future of private enterprise capitalism is also the future of a free society. There is no possibility of having a politically… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
“A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it ... gives people what they want instead of what… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
What most people really object to when they object to a free market is that it is so hard for them to… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market.… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The great virtue of free enterprise is that it forces existing businesses to meet the test of the market continuously, to produce… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
"Free markets" is a very general term. There are all sorts of problems that will emerge. Free markets work best when the… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
If capitalism worked as the socialists think an economic system ought to work, and provided a constant equality of living conditions for… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The economic miracle that has been the United States was not produced by socialized enterprises, by government-unon-industry cartels or by centralized economic… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Viewed as a means to the end of political freedom, economic arrangements are important because of their effect on the concentration or… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Our minds tell us, and history confirms, that the great threat to freedom is the concentration of power. Government is necessary to… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Political freedom means the absence of coercion of a man by his fellow men. The fundamental threat to freedom is power to… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
“Well first of all, tell me: Is there some society you know that doesn’t run on greed? You think Russia doesn’t run… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
“Fundamentally, there are only two ways of co-ordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion—the… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The great advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science or literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The black market was a way of getting around government controls. It was a way of enabling the free market to work.… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm, capitalism is… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Most economic fallacies derive from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
A society based on the freedom to choose is better than a society based on the principles of socialism, communism and coercion. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
There is one and only one responsibility of business: to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Freedom is a rare and delicate plant. Our minds tell us, and history confirms, that the great threat to freedom is the… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
“These people live in many lands, speak different languages, practice different religions, may even hate one another- yet none of these differences… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The key insight of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is misleadingly simple: if an exchange between two parties is voluntary, it will… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
I believe the role that people like myself have played in the transformation of public opinion has been by persistently presenting a different point… — Milton Friedman Copy Share
To really understand something you've got to reduce it to its principles. — Milton Friedman Copy Share
It is a mark of how far we have gone on the road to serfdom that government allocation and rationing of oil is the… — Milton Friedman Copy Share
Economic freedom is an essential requisite for political freedom. By enabling people to cooperate with one another without coercion or central direction, it reduces… — Milton Friedman Copy Share
“The people in one district can choose not to reelect their member of Congress, but that will not change the composition of the government… — Milton Friedman Copy Share
When you have a time of crisis what happens depends on what ideas are floating around, and what ideas have been developed, and thought… — Milton Friedman Copy Share
The government doesn't have any money. The only power it has is to take from some and give to others. — Milton Friedman Copy Share
What would the people who sold us goods do with the money? They'd get dollars. What would they do with the dollars? Eat them?! — Milton Friedman Copy Share
World trade depends on differences among countries, not similarities. Different countries are in different stages of development. It is appropriate for them to have… — Milton Friedman Copy Share
Is there some society you know of that doesn't run on greed? You think Russia doesn't run on greed? You think China doesn't run… — Milton Friedman Copy Share
Well first of all, tell me, is there some society you know of that doesn't run on greed? You think Russia doesn't run on… — Milton Friedman Copy Share
I think almost every economist would agree that government gets itself in trouble when it tries to interfere with voluntary behavior. — Milton Friedman Copy Share
It is most attractive about the US to people and countries with wealth is that it can provide security, insurance really, against political instability.… — Milton Friedman Copy Share
Hong Kong is the bellwether. If the Chinese stick to their agreement to let Hong Kong go its own path, then China will also… — Milton Friedman Copy Share
