Quote by: Friedrich Hayek

The young are right if they have little confidence in the ideas which rule most of their elders. But they are mistaken or misled when they believe that these are still the liberal ideas of the nineteenth century, which, in fact, the younger generation hardly knows. We have little right to feel in this respect superior to our grandfathers; and we should never forget that it is we, the twentieth century, and not they, who have made a mess of things. If in the first attempt to create a world of free men we have failed, we must try again. The guiding principle that a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy remains as true today as it was in the nineteenth century.


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Author Bio


  • NameFriedrich Hayek
  • DescriptionBritish economist and Nobel Prize for Economics laureate
  • AliasesFriedrich August von Hayek
  • BornMay 8, 1899
  • DiedMarch 23, 1992
  • CountryAustria
  • ProfessionEconomist; Philosopher; Historian; Political Scientist
  • AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship; Order Of Merit Of Baden-Württemberg; Ring Of Honour Of The City Wien; Presidential Medal Of Freedom; Order Of Merit For Arts And Science; Hanns Martin Schleyer Prize