Skip to content

If human beings can simply decide on what they want to do and then do it, then forecasting is impossible. Free will is beyond forecasting. But what is most interesting about humans is how unfree they are. It is possible for people today to have ten children, but hardly anyone does. We are deeply constrained in what we do by the time and place in which we live.

— George Friedman

Another quote →

More quotes by George Friedman

The United States Navy controls all of the oceans of the world.

Europe dominated the world, but it failed to dominate itself. For five hundred years Europe tore itself apart in civil wars.

Japan must import all of its major minerals, from oil to aluminum. Without those imports-particularly oil-Japan stops being an industrial power in a matter of months.

The twenty-first century will be the American century.

Contemporary Europe is a search for an exit from hell.

The Next Decade: Where We've Been ... And Where We're Going (2010)

All George Friedman quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: George Friedman (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.