Here are 10 of the most insightful quotes attributed to Milton Friedman, and the logic behind them.
1. On Character
There was nothing in these views to repel a student; or to make Keynes attractive. Keynes had nothing to offer those of us who had sat at the feet of Simons, Mints, Knight, and Viner.
The Meaning: This line from Milton Friedman compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
2. On People and Relationships
It's nice to elect the right people, but that isn't the way you solve things. The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right things.
The Meaning: This line from Milton Friedman compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
3. On People and Relationships
A largely parallel example involving human behavior has been used elsewhere by Savage and me. Consider the problem of predicting the shots made by an expert billiard player.
The Meaning: This line from Milton Friedman compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
4. On Thought and Judgment
They think that the cure to big government is to have bigger government... the only effective cure is to reduce the scope of government - get government out of the business.
The Meaning: This line from Milton Friedman compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
5. On Discipline
Never have I been more impressed with the advice I once received: You cannot be sure that you are right unless you understand the arguments against your views better than your opponents do.
The Meaning: This line from Milton Friedman compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
6. On Freedom
The broader and more influential organisations of businessmen have acted to undermine the basic foundation of the free market system they purport to represent and defend.
The Meaning: Freedom is rarely the absence of limits; it is the ability to choose your constraints. The meaning is that responsibility and freedom are paired: the more you own, the more options you can steer.
7. On Freedom
The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that’s why it’s so essential to preserving individual freedom.
The Meaning: Freedom is rarely the absence of limits; it is the ability to choose your constraints. The meaning is that responsibility and freedom are paired: the more you own, the more options you can steer.
8. On Action
I gave exactly the same lectures in China that I gave in Chile. I have had many demonstrations against me for what I said in Chile. Nobody has made any objections to what I said in China. How come?
The Meaning: This line from Milton Friedman compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
9. On Wealth and Value
It is not an insurance scheme. There is very little relationship to the amount of money any one individual pays and the amount of money he is entitled to receive.
The Meaning: This line from Milton Friedman compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
10. On Freedom
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.
The Meaning: Freedom is rarely the absence of limits; it is the ability to choose your constraints. The meaning is that responsibility and freedom are paired: the more you own, the more options you can steer.
