Milton Friedman

“Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.”

“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand.”

“Indeed, a major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it... gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”

“The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.”

“Self-interest is not myopic selfishness. It is whatever it is that interests the participants, whatever they value, whatever goals they pursue. The scientist seeking to advance the frontiers of his discipline, the missionary seeking to convert infidels to the true faith, the philanthropist seeking to bring comfort to the needy - all are pursuing their interests, as they see them, as they judge them by their own values.”

“The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.”

“I am favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible.”

“So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear. That there is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.”

“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.”

“Universities exist to transmit knowledge and understanding of ideas and values to students not to provide entertainment for spectators or employment for athletes.”

“I think that nothing is so important for freedom as recognizing in the law each individual’s natural right to property, and giving individuals a sense that they own something that they’re responsible for, that they have control over, and that they can dispose of.”

“במקום לחכות לפוליטיקאי הנכון אנחנו צריכים ליצור את התמריצים שיגרמו גם לפוליטיקאי הלא נכון לבחור במדיניות טובה.”

“אינפלציה היא צורת מסוי שאיננה דורשת חקיקה.”

“אין בנמצא דבר כה קבוע כמו תוכנית ממשלתית ארעית.”

“אם ממשלת ארצות הברית תשלוט על מדבר סהרה, תוך חמש שנים יהיה מחסור בחול.”

“פתרון ממשלתי לבעיה הוא בדרך כלל רע כמו הבעיה עצמה.”

“יש לנו שיטה המגדילה את המסים על העבודה ומסבסדת את הבטלה.”

“אם אתה משלם לאנשים כדי שלא יעבדו, ומטיל מסים על אלה שעובדים, אל תתפלא אם מספר המובטלים יגדל במהרה.”

“הממשלה איננה לומדת לעולם. רק האנשים לומדים.”

“מבחנה האמיתי של כל עבודת מחקר איננו מה שאומרים על אודותיה עכשיו, אלא מה יקרה איתה בעוד עשרים וחמש או חמישים שנה.”