Quotation Collection

Programs that are labeled as being for the poor, for the needy, almost always have effects exactly the opposite of those which their well intentioned sponsors intend them to have. Milton Friedman

• government
• welfare
• bureaucracy

You almost always, when you have bad programs, have an unholy coalition of the do-gooders on the one hand and the special interests on the other. Milton Friedman

• government

There's been one underlying basic fallacy in this whole set of social security and welfare measures, and that is the fallacy - this is at the bottom of it - the fallacy that it is feasible and possible to do good with other people's money. That view has two flaws. If I want to do good with other people's money, I first have to take it away from them. That means that the welfare state philosphy of doing good with other people's money, at it's very bottom, is a philosophy of violence and coercion. It's against freedom, because I have to use force to get the money. In the second place, very few people spend other people's money as carefully as they spend their own. Milton Friedman

• government
• welfare
• economics

The maintenance of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing. And it requires a self denying ordinance of the most extreme kind. It requires a willingness to put up with temporary evils on the basis of the subtle and sophisticated understanding that if you step in to try to do something about them, you not only may make them worse, but you will spread your tentacles and get bad results elsewhere. Milton Friedman

• freedom
• government

The argument for collectivism, for government doing something, is simple. Anybody can understand it. 'If there's something wrong, pass a law. If somebody is in trouble, get Mr. X to help them out.' The argument for voluntary cooperation, for a free market, is not nearly so simple. It says, 'You know, if you allow people to cooperate voluntarily and don't interfere with them, indirectly, through the operation of the market, they will improve matters more than you can improve it directly by appointing somebody.' That's a subtle argument, and it's hard for people to understand. Moreover, people think that when you argue that way you're arguing for selfishness, for greed. That's utter nonsense. Milton Friedman

• free enterprise
• economics
• welfare
• government

Government is an institution whereby the people who have the greatest drive to get power over their fellow men get in a position of controlling them. Milton Friedman

• government

The larger the government, the more our livings standards are reduced. We are fortunate as a civilization that the progress of free enterprise generally outpaces the regress of government growth, for, if that were not the case, we would be poorer each year — not just in relative terms, but absolutely poorer too. The market is smart and the government is dumb, and to these attributes do we owe the whole of our economic well-being. Lew Rockwell

• government
• economics
• free enterprise

This is the source.

Wealth is not a given or an accident of history. It is not bestowed on us like rain from above. It is the product of human creativity in an environment of freedom. The freedom to own, to make contracts, to save, to invest, to associate, and to trade: these are the key to prosperity. Lew Rockwell

• free enterprise
• wealth

This is the source.

Think like a man of action, and act like a man of thought. Henri Bergson

• thought
• action

Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things. Peter Drucker

• management

Formal education will make you a living. Self education will make you a fortune. Jim Rohn

• reading
• education

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. Bertrand Russell

• thought

An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive business advantage. Jack Welch

• business
• management
• leadership

Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work. Gustave Flaubert

• work
• time management
• creativity

Deficits mean future tax increases, pure and simple. Deficit spending should be viewed as a tax on future generations, and politicians who create deficits should be exposed as tax hikers. Ron Paul

• debt
• taxes
• politics

A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank. Ron Paul

• capitalism
• economics

Legitimate use of violence can only be that which is required in self-defense. Ron Paul

• violence

When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads. Ron Paul

• government

When the federal government spends more each year than it collects in tax revenues, it has three choices: It can raise taxes, print money, or borrow money. While these actions may benefit politicians, all three options are bad for average Americans. Ron Paul

• government
• debt
• taxes

The greatest thing about tomorrow is I will be better than I am today. And that's how I look at my life. I will be better as a golfer, I will be better as a person, I will be better as a father, I will be a better husband, I will be better as a friend. That's the beauty of tomorrow. There is no such thing as a setback. The lessons I learn today I will apply tomorrow, and I will be better. Tiger Woods

• progress
• self improvement
• sports

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. Hyman Rickover

• intelligence
• ideas
• mind
• gossip

The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. Jim Rohn

• leadership

Nothing so conclusively proves a man´s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself. Thomas Watson Jr.

• leadership
• discipline

Don't waste your breath proclaiming what's really important to you. How you spend your time says it all. Eric Zorn

• priorities
• time management

You can't avoid offending people from time to time. When you don't mean it, apologize. When you do mean it, accept the consequences. Eric Zorn

• tact
• manners

Fear of failure is a ticket to mediocrity. If you're not failing from time to time, you're not pushing yourself. And if you're not pushing yourself, you're coasting. Eric Zorn

• failure

You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try – you don't take the risk. Rosalynn Carter

• goals
• failure

You don't have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things - to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated. Sir Edmund Hillary

• heroes

Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• health

We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Seneca

• self improvement

One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man's familiarity with the word "impossible." Napoleon Hill

• possibility

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Napoleon Hill

• dreams

No one ever is defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality. Napoleon Hill

• defeat

There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge. Napoleon Hill

• mind
• thought

I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon truth and justice; therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. Napoleon Hill

• integrity
• fairness