C.S. Friedman Quotes

If the only motive was to help people who could not afford education, advocates of government involvement would have simply proposed tuition subsidies.

Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.

Capitalism makes people unequally rich. Communism makes people equally poor.

A vision without resources is an hallucination.

Why don’t we have libertarian anarchy? Why does government exist? The answer implicit in previous chapters is that government as a whole exists because most people believe it is necessary.

What is al Qaeda? It's an open source religious political movement that works off the global supply chain.

Only a crisis, actual or perceived, produces real change.

In response to a suggestion that total free trade would end in cheaper foreign products flooding the market and causing unemployment.

Economic freedom is ... an indispensable means toward the achievement of political freedom.

Americans know very little about social statistics, but I am not sure that it's important that Americans know about social statistics.

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

Every person shall be free to do good ' at his own expense.

To really understand something you've got to reduce it to its principles.

I came from an upper-middle class home, which is always a hard cross for a country singer to bear.

May the God of your choice bless you.

Seventeen publishers rejected the manuscript, at which time we knew we had something pretty hot.

Remember: Y'all is singular. All y'all is plural. All y'all's is plural possessive.

Whenever we depart from voluntary cooperation and try to do good by using force, the bad moral value of force triumphs over good intentions.

Never try to walk across a river just because it has an average depth of four feet.

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.

What kind of society isn't structured on greed?

Every sport needs its temple, its cathedral.

There is no place for government to prohibit consumers from buying products the effect of which will be to harm themselves.

If you help yourself to the benefits of being married when you are single, you're likely to help yourself to the benefits of being single when you're married.

Every economist knows that minimum wages either do nothing or cause inflation and unemployment. That's not a statement, it's a definition.

Inflation is a monetary phenomenon. It is made by or stopped by the central bank.

I don't think where people come from is that important. It doesn't matter if you come from reality TV. The question is whether you can inspire people.

The first rule of holes is when you're in one, stop digging. When you're in three, bring a lot of shovels.

My major problem with the world is a problem of scarcity in the midst of plenty ... of people starving while there are unused resources ... people having skills which are not being used.

I believe that Willy Nelson is the hillbilly Dalai Lama.

The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist.

If freedom were not so economically efficient it certainly wouldn't stand a chance.

The facts never speak for themselves. They have to be interpreted in terms of some understanding of where they come from and what the relation between them is.

If you do not force political freedom, economic freedom will be stymied sooner or later.

Big breakthroughs happen when what is suddenly possible meets what is desperately needed

How can you look at the Texas legislature and still believe in intelligent design?

I have a musical called Goodbye and Good Luck, based on a Grace Paley short story. I also have King Island Christmas, and there are 20 different productions of it this year.

True love usually results in a hostage situation.

The real tragedy of minimum wage laws is that they are supported by well-meaning groups who want to reduce poverty. But the people who are hurt most by higher minimums are the most poverty stricken.

Humility is the distinguishing virtue of the believer in freedom; arrogance, of the paternalist.

So long as large sums of money are involved - and they are bound to be if drugs are illegal - it is literally impossible to stop the traffic, or even to make a serious reduction in its scope.

We're first on executions. We're 49th in funding public education. We're in a race with Mississippi for the bottom, and we're winning.

Jerry Jones and Chris Christie are probably the most important latent homosexual relationship since Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

You never marry the person you first see 'Casablanca' with.

One thing we are sure of is there's no one like Nelson Mandela out there. That's too bad for us.

If you're patient and you wait long enough, something will usually happen and it'll usually be something you don't like.

The central banks cannot control interest rates. That's a mistake. They can control a particular rate, such as the Federal Funds rate, if they want to, but they can't control interest rates.

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

The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus.

The historical debate is over. The answer is free-market capitalism.