Friedrich August von Hayek

Money is one of the greatest instruments of freedom ever invented by man. It is money which in existing society opens an…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

It is possible for a dictator to govern in a liberal way. And it is also possible for a democracy to govern…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

By giving the government unlimited powers, the most arbitrary rule can be made legal; and in this way a democracy may set…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

Socialism has never and nowhere been at first a working-class movement. It is by no means an obvious remedy for the obvious…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

We must shed the illusion that we can deliberately "create the future of mankind." This is the final conclusion of the forty…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

It is indeed probable that more harm and misery have been caused by men determined to use coercion to stamp out a…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

If the human intellect is allowed to impose a preconceived pattern on society, if our powers of reasoning are allowed to lay…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

We know: of course, with regard to the market and similar social structures, a great many facts which we cannot measure and…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

The successful politician owes his power to the fact that he moves within the accepted framework of thought, that he thinks and…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

It may indeed prove to be far the most difficult and not the least important task for human reason rationally to comprehend…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

I am convinced that if the market system were the result of deliberate human design, and if the people guided by the…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

We must make the building of a free society once more an intellectual adventure, a deed of courage… Unless we can make…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

Independence of mind or strength of character is rarely found among those who cannot be confident that they will make their way…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

It may be that a free society... carries in itself the forces of its own destruction, that once freedom has been achieved…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

The importance of our being free to do a particular thing has nothing to do with the question of whether we or…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

It is true that the virtues which are less esteemed and practiced now--independence, self-reliance, and the willingness to bear risks, the readiness…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

And who will deny that a world in which the wealthy are powerful is still a better world than one in which…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

In no other field has the world yet paid so dearly for the abandonment of nineteenth-century liberalism as in the field where…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

It is perhaps the most characteristic feature of the intellectual that he judges new ideas not by their specific merits but by…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

To create conditions in which competition will be as effective as possible, to prevent fraud and deception, to break up monopolies- these…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

If freedom is to flourish the philosophic foundations of a free society must be kept a living intellectual issue and its implementation…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

Whenever it is necessary that one of several conflicting opinions should prevail and when one would have to be made to prevail…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

Unlike the position that exists in the physical sciences, in economics and other disciplines that deal with essentially complex phenomena, the aspects…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

The credit which the apparent conformity with recognized scientific standards can gain for seemingly simple but false theories may, as the present…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

With the exception only of the period of the gold standard, practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

Least of all shall we preserve democracy or foster its growth if all the power and most of the important decisions rest…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

This is not a dispute about whether planning is to be done or not. It is a dispute as to whether planning…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

The conservative feels safe and content only if he is assured that some higher wisdom watches and supervises change, only if he…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

The [classical] liberal, of course, does not deny that there are some superior people -- he is not an egalitarian -- but…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

The progress of the natural sciences in modern times has of course so much exceeded all expectations that any suggestion that there…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

I regard it in fact as the great advantage of the mathematical technique that it allows us to describe, by means of…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

Once you admit that the individual is merely a means to serve the ends of the higher entity called society or the…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

The mischievous idea that all public needs should be satisfied by compulsory organization and that all the means that individuals are willing…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

This means that to entrust to science - or to deliberate control according to scientific principles - more than scientific method can…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

The freedom that will be used by only one man in a million may be more important to society and more beneficial…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

The principle that the end justifies the means is in individualist ethics regarded as the denial of all morals. In collectivist ethics…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

Should our moral beliefs really prove to be dependent on factual assumptions shown to be incorrect, it would be hardly moral to…

— Friedrich August von Hayek

That there is little hope of international order or lasting peace so long as every country is free to employ whatever measures…

— Friedrich August von Hayek