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
In a free society, it is hard for 'good' people to do 'good', but that is a small price to pay for… — 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 does it mean to say that government might have a responsibility? Government can't have a responsibility any more than the business… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The difference between me and people like Murray Rothbard is that, though I want to know what my ideal is, I think… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The benefits of a tariff are visible. Union workers can see they are "protected". The harm which a tariff does is invisible.… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Economic freedom is an essential requisite for political freedom. By enabling people to cooperate with one another without coercion or central direction,… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The collapse of communism in essence added tens and tens of millions of people to the world labor supply, and the people… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
You could not possibly maintain the current level of government taxation without the taxes being hidden, and they are hidden in two… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
A free society releases the energies and abilities of people to pursue their own objectives. It prevents some people from arbitrarily suppressing… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The power to determine the quantity of money... is too important, too pervasive, to be exercised by a few people, however public-spirited,… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
You had a flood of immigrants, millions of them, coming to this country. What brought them here? It was the hope for… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
There is no logical basis for the prohibition of marijuana. $7.7 billion is a lot of money, but that is one of… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintainence of a free society is a very… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
All of the progress that the US has made over the last couple of centuries has come from unemployment. It has come… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
For example, the supporters of tariffs treat it as self-evident that the creation of jobs is a desirable end, in and of… — 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
What's the difference? How can people be so inconsistent? Why is it that free immigration was a good thing before 1914 and… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The proper role of government is exactly what John Stuart Mill said in the middle of the nineteenth century in On Liberty.… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
And what does reward virtue? You think the communist commissar rewards virtue? You think a Hitler rewards virtue? You think, excuse me,… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
If the US government spends 40 percent of the nation's income, as it does through either borrowing or taxes, that income is… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The real tragedy of minimum wage laws is that they are supported by well-meaning groups who want to reduce poverty. But the… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The power to determine the quantity of money... is too important, too pervasive, to be exercised by a few people, however public-spirited,… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Rich people are the experimental ground for every new development. The nature of progress is that what begins as a luxury for… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
We do not influence the course of events by persuading people that we are right when we make what they regard as… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The Founding Fathers envisioned a federal government that trusts its people with their money and freedom, outlining this limited, non-intrusive federal government… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
That's an interesting paradox to think about. Make it legal and it's no good. Why? Because as long as it's illegal the… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Plato assumes somehow that government is a way in which you put unselfish and ungreedy men in charge of selfish and greedy… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
People hired by government know who is their benefactor. People who lose their jobs or fail to get them because of the… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The strongest argument for free enterprise is that it prevents anybody from having too much power. Whether that person is a government… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Doing good with other people's money has two basic flaws. In the first place, you never spend anybody else's money as carefully… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The only reason there is a crisis about Social Security in the US and pensions in Europe and Japan is that you… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
But on the other hand, if you come under circumstances where each person is entitled to a pro-rata share of the pot,… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. — 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 Image
To really understand something you've got to reduce it to its principles. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
