Free Market Quotes

• 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.

  Milton Friedman

  Freedom, People, Together

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• Indeed, a major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it... gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

  Milton Friedman

  Thinking, People, Giving

  Milton Friedman, Rose D. Friedman (2002). “Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition”, p.15, University of Chicago Press

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• We who live in free market societies believe that growth and prosperity, and ultimately human fulfillment are created from the bottom up, not the government down.

  Ronald Reagan

  Believe, Government, People

  "A MAN TRUE TO HIS WORD".

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

  Milton Friedman

  Freedom, Business, Party

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• Free trade or the free market means the sovereignty of the consumer.

  Faustino Ballve

  Mean, Sovereignty, Trade

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• I have read a great deal of economic theory for over 50 years now, but have found only one economic "law" to which I can find NO exceptions: Where the State prevents a free market, by banning any form of goods or services, consumer demand will create a black market for those goods or services, at vastly higher prices. Can YOU think of a single exception to this law?

  Robert Anton Wilson

  Thinking, Years, Law

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• Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.

  Frederic Bastiat

  Government, Second Amendment, Liberty

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• Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success - only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, prosperous, progressive and free.

  Ronald Reagan

  Society, Alive, Spirit

  Ronald Reagan (2004). “The uncommon wisdom of Ronald Reagan: a portrait in his own words”

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• It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

  Adam Smith

  Business, Invisible Hand, Government

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 1, bk. 1, ch. 2 (1776)

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• All systems are capitalist. It's just a matter of who owns and controls the capital -- ancient king, dictator, or private individual. We should properly be looking at the contrast between a free market system where individuals have the right to live like kings if they have the ability to earn that right and government control of the market system such as we find today in socialist nations.

  Ronald Reagan

  Kings, Government, Matter

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• My belief in free competitive economic enterprise does not rest solely or even mainly on arguments of economic efficiency, though, heaven knows, these are cogent enough. It rests essentially on the view that the free market is the only safe way of ensuring that productive effort is directed towards supplying what individuals actually want, and in a way which secures the dignity and independence of the worker.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Views, Effort, Heaven

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• Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

  Milton Friedman

  Freedom, Liberty, Libertarian

  Milton Friedman, Rose D. Friedman (2002). “Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition”, p.15, University of Chicago Press

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• America's abundance was not created by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes.

  Ayn Rand

  Sacrifice, Men, America

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.27, Penguin

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• In a system of free trade and free markets poor countries - and poor people - are not poor because others are rich. Indeed, if others became less rich the poor would in all probability become still poorer.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Country, People, Rich

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• Free market capitalism has done more for the soul of the human race than any other system. And it's created the highest standard of living.

  Chris Chocola

  Race, Soul, Done

  "Rick Santorum secures conservative Christian endorsement; debate over Mitt Romney's business record". "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace, www.foxnews.com. January 15, 2012.

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• The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.

  Milton Friedman

  Hate, Color, People

  "Why Government Is the Problem". Book by Milton Friedman, February 1, 1993.

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• There is no free market for oil. It's controlled by a cartel, OPEC.

  Frederick W. Smith

  Oil, Cartels, Opec

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• The free market economy is supposed to be the only path leading to the happiness of humanity by promoting wealth and prosperity, power and influence of nations.

  Omar Bongo

  Happiness, Humanity, Path

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• Since achieving their independence in 1992, the people of Croatia have built a democratic society based on the rule of law, respect for human rights, and a free market economy.

  Elton Gallegly

  Rights, Law, People

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• Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own gain, and he is, in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was not part of his intention.

  Adam Smith

  Hands, Invisible Hand, Liberty

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 2, bk. 4, ch. 2 (1776) See Adam Smith 1

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• Political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries.

  Ayn Rand

  Freedom, Political, Mind

  Ayn Rand (1963). “For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)”, p.20, Penguin

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• The only place you see a free market is in the speeches of politicians.

  Dwayne Andreas

  Speech, Politician

  "Dwayne’s World" by Dan Carney, www.motherjones.com. July/August 1995.

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• I had to abandon free market principles in order to save the free market system.

  George W. Bush

  Order, Principles, Abandon

  "CNBC transcript: CNBC's Larry Kudlow sits down with former President George W. Bush tonight on CNBC's 'The Kudlow Report'". "The Kudlow Report" with Larry Kudlow, www.cnbc.com. November 22, 2010.

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• A free mind and a free market are corollaries.

  Ayn Rand

  Intellectual, Mind, Economic Freedom

  Ayn Rand (1963). “For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)”, p.20, Penguin

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• The challenge as we saw in the Nigerian project was to restructure the economy decisively in the direction of a modern free market as an appropriate environment for cultivation of freedom and democracy and the natural emergence of a new social order.

  Ibrahim Babangida

  Order, Challenges, Democracy

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