When government - in pursuit of good intentions - tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
There is still a tendency to regard any existing government intervention as desirable, to attribute all evils to the market, and to… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Spending by government currently amounts to about 45 percent of national income. By that test, government owns 45 percent of the means… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
“The smaller the unit of government and the more restricted the functions assigned government, the less likely it is that its actions… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The world runs on individuals pursuing their self interests. The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn't… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
They think that the cure to big government is to have bigger government... the only effective cure is to reduce the scope… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
“Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest? . . . And just tell me where in… — 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
When a man spends his own money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about how much he spends and… — 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. He is… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
If you spend your own money on yourself, you care how much you spend and how well you spend it. If you… — 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
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
Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
I cannot disagree with you that having something like 500 economists is extremely unhealthy. As you say, it is not conducive to… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
It is my view that what is important is cutting government spending, however spending is financed. A so-called deficit is a disguised… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
I can spend somebody else's money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else's money on somebody else, I'm not concerned… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
I can spend somebody else's money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else's money on somebody else, I'm not concerned… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The growing role that the government has played in financing and administering schooling has led not only the enormous waste of taxpayers… — 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
I think that the Internet is going to be one of the major forces for reducing the role of government. The one… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
How can we keep the government we create from becoming a Frankenstein that will destroy the very freedom we establish it to… — 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
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
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
I'm not in favor of no government. You do need a government. But by doing so many things that the government has… — 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
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
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
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
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
