When everybody owns something, nobody owns it, and nobody has a direct interest in maintaining or improving its condition. That is why… — 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
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
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
I'd like to promote lots of things. I'd like to promote elimination of drug prohibition. I'd like to promote parental choice in… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
We economists don't know much, but we do know how to create a shortage. If you want to create a shortage of… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
. . . it is worth discussing radical changes, not in the expectation that they will be adopted promptly but for two… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Significant changes in the growth rate of money supply, even small ones, impact the financial markets first. Then, they impact changes in… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
We have a freer world because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the changes in China. Those two have been… — 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
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
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
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
