Quotes

"Therefore, the Sage says: I take no action yet the people transform themselves, I favour quiescence and the people right themselves, I take no action and the people enrich themselves..."

"The more artificial taboos and restrictions there are in the world, the more the people are impoverished... The more that laws and regulations are given prominence, the more thieves and robbers there will be."

"The best way is to leave all laborers and employers, as well as all other sellers and buyers, free to ask and to offer what they think fit."

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which grants a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."

"An economic forecaster is like a cross-eyed javelin thrower; they don't win many accuracy contests, but they sure keep the crowd's attention."

"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning, but without understanding."

"We were at all times in danger of forgetting - until rudely awoken by the attack on the New York Twin Towers of September 11, 2001 - that the primary role of government is to look after the physical security of the population and that all else is secondary", The Changing Economic Role of Government in Against The Flow (2005)

"There is great evil in the government undertaking any work which can be fairly done by private persons or companies. Officers of the government are seldom dismissed when once employed, or, if turned away, they receive pensions. Thus when the government establishes any new work, it cannot stop it without great expense, and the work is usually carried on whether it is done economically or not", Political Economy (1905)

"The burden of proof has shited noticeably onto those who wish to defend government interventions; they must now establish not merely that these will in the circumstances assumed be beneficial if carried out as planned but also that they will not be waylaid by powerful interest groups. It is usually a hard case to make", Expectations and the Economy (1986)