Milton Friedman Quotes

1912–2006 United States

Milton Friedman (31 July 1912 – 16 November 2006) was an American economist noted for his support for free markets and a reduction in the size of government. In 1976 he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Economics.

United States
Academics
Agnostics
Anti-communists
Economists

Also known as: Friedman, Milton, Friedmanite, Friedmanites

Random Milton Friedman quote

119 quotes

With some notable exceptions, businessmen favor free enterprise in general but are opposed to it when it comes to themselves.

The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both.

One reason why money is a mystery to so many is the role of myth or fiction or convention.

Money Mischief (1992)

The basic problem of social organization is how to co-ordinate the economic activities of large numbers of people.

Capitalism and Freedom (1962)

To the free man, the country is the collection of individuals who compose it, not something over and above them.

Capitalism and Freedom (1962)

Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.

The Counter-Revolution in Monetary Theory (1970)

Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.

Capitalism and Freedom (1962)

When the law interferes with people's pursuit of their own values, they will try to find a way around.

Free to Choose (1980)

Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own.

The price system transmits only the important information and only to the people who need to know.

Free to Choose (1980)

The combination of economic and political power in the same hands is a sure recipe for tyranny.

Free to Choose (1980)

Never underestimate the role of luck in the fate of individuals or of nations.

Money Mischief (1992)

In my opinion the least bad tax is the property tax on the unimproved value of land, the Henry George argument of many, many years ago.

There's a sense in which all taxes are antagonistic to free enterprise … and yet we need taxes.

"You cannot be sure that you are right unless you understand the arguments against your views better than your opponents do."

Legalizing drugs would simultaneously reduce the amount of crime and raise the quality of law enforcement.

An Economist's Protest: Columns in Political Economy (1966)

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

Capitalism & Freedom (1962)

There is an invisible hand in politics that operates in the opposite direction to the invisible hand in the market.

An Economist's Protest: Columns in Political Economy (1966)

History suggests only that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.

Capitalism and Freedom (1962)

Believers in aristocracy and socialism share a faith in centralized rule, in rule by command rather than by voluntary cooperation.

Free to Choose (1980)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Milton Friedman (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.