Quotes of the Day: Milton Friedman

"Fair" is in the eye of the beholder; free is the verdict of the market.

The word 'free' is used three times in the Declaration of Independence and once in the First Amendment to the Constitution, along with 'freedom.' The word 'fair' is not used in either of our founding documents.

~ Milton Friedman, Wall Street Journal, Mar. 7, 1996


What most people really object to when they object to a free market is that it is so hard for them to shape it to their own will. The market gives people what the people want instead of what other people think they ought to want. At the bottom of many criticisms of the market economy is really lack of belief in freedom itself.

~ Milton Friedman, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 1961