Selected Quotes by Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman- (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize on 1976 for his contribution to Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy.
Together with George Stigler and others, he was considered among the intellectual leaders of the Chicago school of economics. It was a neoclassical school of economic thought associated with the work of the faculty at the University of Chicago. It rejected Keynesianism in favor of monetarism until the mid-1970s, when it turned to new classical macroeconomics heavily based on the concept of rational expectations.
Several students, young professors and academics who were recruited or mentored by him at Chicago went on to become leading economists. They include Gary Becker, Robert Fogel, Thomas Sowell and Robert Lucas Jr. .
Quotes by Milton Friedman:
“We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes non-work.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“Inflation is taxation without legislation.”
Milton Friedman, Government, Finance
“Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest?”
Milton Friedman, Government, Finance
“Governments never learn. Only people learn.”
Milton Friedman, Government, Intelligence/Wisdom
“One man’s opportunism is another man’s statesmanship.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“Columbus did not seek a new route to the Indies in response to a majority directive.”
Milton Friedman, Government, Goals
“Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
Milton Friedman, Life
“Freedom is a rare and delicate plant. Our minds tell us, and history confirms, that the great threat to freedom is the concentration of power. Government is necessary to preserve our freedom, it is an instrument through which we can exercise our freedom; yet by concentrating power in political hands, it is also a threat to freedom.”
Milton Friedman, Freedom, Power, Government
“The lack of balance in governmental activity reflects primarily the failure to separate sharply the question what activities it is appropriate for government to finance from the question what activities it is appropriate for government to administer—a distinction that is important in other areas of government activity as well.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“The greatest advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science and literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from centralized government.”
Milton Friedman, Government, Society
“Government should be a referee, not an active player.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“When government – in pursuit of good intentions – tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost comes in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom.”
Milton Friedman, Government, Society, Freedom
“Government has three primary functions. It should provide for the military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property.”
Milton Friedman, Government, Goals
“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 bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way.”
Milton Friedman, Goals, Society
“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”
Milton Friedman, Government, Mistakes
“I think the government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem and very often makes the problem worse.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“Most of the energy of political work is devoted to correcting the effects of mismanagement of government.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink, and make the combination worthless.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“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.”
Milton Friedman, Government, Business
“The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.”
Milton Friedman, Government
“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand.”