Adam Smith's key insight was that both parties to an exchange can benefit and that, so long as cooperation is strictly voluntary, no exchange can take place unless both parties do benefit.

Positive economics is in principle independent of any particular ethical position or normative judgment...In short, positive economics is or can be an "objective" science.

There is one and only one responsibility of business: to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game.

The essential notion of a capitalist society ... is voluntary cooperation, voluntary exchange. The essential notion of a socialist society is force.

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

A minimum-wage law is, in reality, a law that makes it illegal for an employer to hire a person with limited skills.

One of the reasons that I am in favor of less government is because when you have more government, industrialists take it over.