Quotes by Milton Friedman

About Milton Friedman:

Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician and writer who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades. He received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

For example, the supporters of tariffs treat it as self-evident that the creation of jobs is a desirable end, in and of itself, regardless of what the persons employed do. That is clearly wrong. If all we want are jobs, we can create any number--for ...

Milton Friedman

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

I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal.

Milton Friedman

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.

Milton Friedman

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

Milton Friedman

Most economic fallacies derive from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another.

Milton Friedman

Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation.

Milton Friedman

One man's opportunism is another man's statesmanship.

Milton Friedman

Columbus did not seek a new route to the Indies in response to a majority directive.

Milton Friedman

And what does reward virtue? You think the communist commissar rewards virtue? You think a Hitler rewards virtue? You think, excuse me, if you'll pardon me, American presidents reward virtue? Do they choose their appointees on the basis of the virtue...

Milton Friedman

Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest?

Milton Friedman

I think that the Internet is going to be one of the major forces for reducing the role of government.

Milton Friedman

There is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system...

Milton Friedman

These people live in many lands, speak different languages, practice different religions, may even hate one another- yet none of these differences prevented them from cooperating to produce a pencil. How did it happen? Adam Smith gave us the answer t...

Milton Friedman

The great achievements of western capitalism have rebounded primarily to the benefit of the ordinary person. These achievements have made available to the masses conveniences and amenities that were previously the exclusive prerogative of the rich an...

Milton Friedman

I have been enormously impressed by the role that pure chance plays in determining our life history. I was reminded of some famous lines of Robert Frost: Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both I took the one less travl...

Milton Friedman

Now here's somebody who wants to smoke a marijuana cigarette. If he's caught, he goes to jail. Now is that moral? Is that proper? I think it's absolutely disgraceful that our government, supposed to be our government, should be in the position of con...

Milton Friedman

This plea comes from the bottom of my heart. Every friend of freedom, and I know you are one, must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an ...

Milton Friedman

There is one and only one social responsibility of business–to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition withou...

Milton Friedman

We economists don't know much, but we do know how to create a shortage. If you want to create a shortage of tomatoes, for example, just pass a law that retailers can't sell tomatoes for more than two cents per pound. Instantly you'll have a tomato sh...

Milton Friedman

Author Bio

  • NameMilton Friedman
  • DescriptionAmerican economist, statistician, and writer
  • BornJuly 31, 1912
  • DiedNovember 16, 2006
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionEconomist; Writer; Statistician
  • AwardsNobel Memorial Prize In Economic Sciences; National Medal Of Science; Presidential Medal Of Freedom; Adam Smith Award