--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I want people to take thought about their…" description: "\"I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintenance of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/176/milton-friedman-616_complicated_i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-thei_3177368.png" --- # I want people to take thought about their condition and to… ![“I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintenance of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing and it requires a self-denying ordinance of the most extreme kind” quote by Milton Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/176/milton-friedman-616_complicated_i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-thei_3177368.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/176/milton-friedman-616_complicated_i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-thei_3177368.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/176/milton-friedman-616_complicated_i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-thei_3177368.png) > “I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintenance of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing and it requires a self-denying ordinance of the most extreme kind” [Milton Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milton-friedman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A free society demands complex, selfless sacrifices, requiring individuals to for personal interests for collective liberty. **In simple terms:** Freedom requires hard, selfless work. Key Takeaway Accept personal sacrifice for liberty. Themes freedom responsibility economics society sacrifice Mood thoughtful critical Type political economic When to use this quote - public policy - civic engagement - taxation - community service Key Concepts libertarianism public goods collective action Questions to Reflect On - Are you willing to give up personal gain for freedom? - What limits should self-sacrifice have? A Different Perspective Self-denial may conflict with personal rights. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Complicated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complicated/) [Complicated things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complicated-things/) [Conditions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conditions/) [Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difficult/) [Difficult Complicated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difficult-complicated-582410/) [Extremes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremes/) [Free society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/free-society/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Maintenance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/maintenance/) [Ordinances](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinances/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Self Denying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-denying-2985449/) [Society Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society-difficult-2145754/) [Sophisticated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sophisticated/) [Thought Condition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought-condition-2665887/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) ## Related quotes > [I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintainence of a free society is a very difficult and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-friedman/i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-their-condition-and-to-recognize/) [Milton Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milton-friedman/) > [A man cannot free himself by any self-denying ordinances, neither by water nor potatoes, nor by violent possibilities, by refusing to swear, refusing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-man-cannot-free-himself-by-any-self-denying-ordinances-neither-by/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Women are always self-effacing and self-denying. 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It is by costly, self-denying Christian practice that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-edwards/it-is-not-by-telling-people-about-ourselves-that-we-demonstrate-our/) [Jonathan Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-edwards/) > [“In the human society, it is difficult to find all angels flapping there wings and all saints singing halleluya.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/late-chief-gani-fahewinmi/in-the-human-society-it-is-difficult-to-find-all-angels-flapping/) [Late Chief Gani Fahewinmi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/late-chief-gani-fahewinmi/) > [Marx saw that capitalism is a wasteful, irrational system, a system which controls us when we should be controlling it. That insight is still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-singer/marx-saw-that-capitalism-is-a-wasteful-irrational-system-a-system/) [Peter Singer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-singer/) > [“The truth is, living in any society is difficult. 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Wonderful was the dark…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/it-was-stupid-and-difficult-it-was-complicated-and-exhausting-to-love/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Especially moments when things are very difficult and complicated for me and I am still trying to grasp what is happening and I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwidge-danticat/especially-moments-when-things-are-very-difficult-and-complicated-for/) [Edwidge Danticat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwidge-danticat/) > [There are plenty of myths out there that are either really expensive to do or incredibly difficult or complicated to execute.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-imahara/there-are-plenty-of-myths-out-there-that-are-either-really-expensive/) [Grant Imahara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grant-imahara/) > [There is nothing difficult, there is nothing complicated, only one has to have a desire to have a better quality of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maharishi-mahesh-yogi/there-is-nothing-difficult-there-is-nothing-complicated-only-one-has/) [Maharishi Mahesh Yogi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maharishi-mahesh-yogi/) > [People talk often of Brexit as the biggest challenge since the Second World War. 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If the Chinese stick to their agreement to let Hong Kong go its own path, then China will also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-friedman/hong-kong-is-the-bellwether-if-the-chinese-stick-to-their-agreement/) [Milton Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milton-friedman/) [Explore all 444 Milton Friedman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milton-friedman/) ## More Complicated quotes > [Of course I like you. It's because I like you I don't wanna be with you. It's a complicated emotion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlin/of-course-i-like-you-it-s-because-i-like-you-i-don-t-wanna-be-with/) [Marlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlin/) > [“Why the hell did he have to be so complicated? One minute he was charming, the next he withdrew behind his internal walls.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lia-davis/why-the-hell-did-he-have-to-be-so-complicated-one-minute-he-was/) [Lia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lia-davis/) > [Life is more complicated than we think, yet far simpler than anyone dares to imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-durrell/life-is-more-complicated-than-we-think-yet-far-simpler-than-anyone/) [Lawrence Durrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-durrell/) > [I think adoption becomes complicated whenever the biological parents are alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-haven/i-think-adoption-becomes-complicated-whenever-the-biological-parents/) [James Haven](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-haven/) > [We animals are the most complicated things in the known universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-animals-are-the-most-complicated-things-in-the-known-universe/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Programmers are always surrounded by complexity; we cannot avoid it… If our basic tool, the language in which we design and code our programs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-hoare/programmers-are-always-surrounded-by-complexity-we-cannot-avoid-it-if/) [Tony Hoare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-hoare/) > [“Just because it's complicated, just because you think you can't ever know everything about another person, it doesn't mean you can't try.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-semple/just-because-it-s-complicated-just-because-you-think-you-can-t-ever/) [Maria Semple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-semple/) > [The one thing I absolutely hate about social media are the people who abuse it. Whenever I see a person who constantly posts negative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jazmin-garcia/the-one-thing-i-absolutely-hate-about-social-media-are-the-people-who/) [Jazmin Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jazmin-garcia/) > [I think the ethics and morals of genetic engineering are very complicated. It intrigues me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-spottiswoode/i-think-the-ethics-and-morals-of-genetic-engineering-are-very/) [Roger Spottiswoode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-spottiswoode/) > [Your Starbucks order is directly proportional to how complicated your personality is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin/your-starbucks-order-is-directly-proportional-to-how-complicated-your/) [Kevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin/) > [Geometry, which should only obey Physics, when united with it sometimes commands it. 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They're not complicated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-maxwell/two-people-could-build-an-outhouse-in-four-hours-they-re-not/) [Robert Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-maxwell/) [Browse all 3,190 Complicated quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complicated/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintenance of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing and it requires a self-denying ordinance of the most extreme kind", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Milton Friedman" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-friedman/i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-their-condition-and-to-recognize-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Complicated" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-friedman/i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-their-condition-and-to-recognize-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/176/milton-friedman-616_complicated_i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-thei_3177368.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/176/milton-friedman-616_complicated_i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-thei_3177368.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/176/milton-friedman-616_complicated_i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-thei_3177368.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintenance of a free society…” — Milton Friedman", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Milton Friedman", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milton-friedman/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I want people to take thought...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-friedman/i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-their-condition-and-to-recognize-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-friedman/i-want-people-to-take-thought-about-their-condition-and-to-recognize-2/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```