Economics Quote by Milton Friedman

Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens…

— Milton Friedman

“The ICC [Interstate Commerce Commission] illustrates what might be called the natural history of government intervention. A real or fancied evil leads to demands…

— Milton Friedman

The proper function of a government is to make it easy for the people to do good, and difficult for them to do evil.

— Daniel Webster

When government takes away options, it is bound to make some people worse off, even with intrinsicallly good intentions behind that government intervention.

— Thomas Sowell

The effect of a good government is to make life more valuable; of a bad one, to make it less valuable.

— Henry David Thoreau

The existence of a free market does not of course eliminate the need for government. On the contrary, government is essential both as a…

— Milton Friedman

The interest of the people lies in being able to join organizations, advocate causes, and make political "mistakes" without being subjected to governmental penalties.

— Hugo Black

Government is the political representative of a natural equilibrium, of custom, of inertia; it is by no means a representative of reason.

— George Santayana

There is still a tendency to regard any existing government intervention as desirable, to attribute all evils to the market, and to evaluate new…

— Milton Friedman

Life in general has never been even close to fair, so the pretense that the government can make it fair is a valuable and…

— Thomas Sowell

It may be considered as an objection inherent in the principle, that as every appeal to the people would carry an implication of some…

— James Madison

The object of every free government is the public good, and all lesser interests yield to it. That of every tyrannical government, is the…

— Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger