Governments never learn. Only people learn.

The Great Depression in the United States, far from being a sign of the inherent instability of the private enterprise system, is a testament to how much harm can be done by mistakes on the part of a few men when they wield vast power over the monetary system of the country.

Money is a very powerful thing, which you hardly notice when it goes right, but which can create havoc when it goes wrong.

When everybody owns something, nobody owns it, and nobody has a direct interest in maintaining or improving its condition. That is why buildings in the Soviet Union - like public housing in the United States - look decrepit within a year or two of their construction.

We had much freer trade in the 19th century. We have much less globalization now than we did then.

When you start paying people to be poor, you wind up with an awful lot of poor people.

I think that nothing is so important for freedom as recognizing in the law each individual’s natural right to property, and giving individuals a sense that they own something that they’re responsible for, that they have control over, and that they can dispose of.