Milton Friedman Quotes

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

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 greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? What is greed?

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

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

The world runs on individuals pursuing their self interests. The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn’t construct his theory under order from a, from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way.

The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm, capitalism is that kind of a system.

The power to do good is also the power to do harm.

The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that’s why it’s so essential to preserving individual freedom.

The only relevant test of the validity of a hypothesis is comparison of prediction with experience.

The most important ways in which I think the Internet will affect the big issue is that it will make it more difficult for government to collect taxes.

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