David Friedman quotes

David Friedman is an American economist, legal scholar, and writer known for his work on anarcho-capitalism and law and economics. His book "The Machinery of Freedom" is a foundational text in libertarian and free-market circles. He has influenced economic thought with his unique views on private law and voluntary cooperation. Here are 41 of his quotes:

The direct use of physical force is so poor a solution to the problem of limited resources that it is commonly employed only by small children and great nations. (David Friedman)

David D. Friedman is the one of the most important living anarcho-capitalist philosophers. He has added a philosopher's insistence on consistency to the firm grasp of economic principles he presumably learned at the paternal knees.

David Friedman

If we want to be honest, we can ship the Statue of Liberty back to France or replace the outdated verse with new lines, "America the closed preserve/ That dirty foreigners don't deserve."

David Friedman

I have a musical called Goodbye and Good Luck, based on a Grace Paley short story. I also have King Island Christmas, and there are 20 different productions of it this year.

David Friedman

I wanted to produce Nancy LaMott's albums, so I created my own record company.

David Friedman

As time goes by, I realize that I do trust the wind. And I often write my songs for myself.

David Friedman

As a person, I'm not that hopeful, but somehow the hopeful part of me reveals itself through my songs.

David Friedman

I've written several deeply personal songs this year, which I really love. Some of them came out of intense sadness. This has been an extremely difficult year for me.

David Friedman

I know a lot of people who have tremendous commercial success and they go directly for it. There's something that has always been difficult about that for me.

David Friedman

In the ideal socialist state, power will not attract power freaks. People who make decisions will show no slightest bias towards their own interests. There will be no way for a clever man to bend the institutions to serve his own ends. And the rivers will run uphill.

David Friedman

Perhaps the best way to see why anarcho-capitalism would be much more peaceful than our present system is by analogy. Consider our world as it would be if the cost of moving from one country to another were zero. Everyone lives in a housetrailer and speaks the same language. One day, the president of France announces that because of troubles with neighboring countries, new military taxes are being levied and conscription will begin shortly. The next morning the president of France finds himself ruling a peaceful but empty landscape, the population having been reduced to himself, three generals, and twenty-seven war correspondents. (David Friedman)

I predict that, if anarcho-capitalist institutions appeared in this country tomorrow, heroin would be legal in New York and illegal in most other places.

David Friedman

An ideal objectivist society with a limited government is superior to an anarcho-capitalist society in precisely the same way that an ideal socialist society is superior to a capitalist society. Socialism does better with perfect people than anarcho-capitalism with imperfect. And it is better to wear a bikini with the sun shining than a raincoat when it is raining. That is no argument against carrying an umbrella.

David Friedman

Economics is that way of understanding behavior that starts from the assumption that people have objectives and tend to choose the correct way to achieve them.

David Friedman

The tendency to be rational is the consistent and hence predictable element in human behavior.

David Friedman

Legal rules are to be judged by the structure of incentives they establish and the consequences of people altering their behavior in response to those incentives.

David Friedman

My career keeps shifting; I keep doing the next thing and it keeps growing.

David Friedman

I was talking to my spiritual advisor. I got a letter from somebody who said that they were about to kill themselves, but they listened to a song of mine and it saved their lives.

David Friedman

I'm trying to have everything that I put into the world be something that makes a difference in the way I want to make a difference.

David Friedman

In the music industry, we value large success. I realized that while I would like that, that it's not what my writing is about. And if I start making it about that, it becomes impure.

David Friedman

When my writing really started to take off was when I made a decision that I would write only what I wanted to write, and if 10 people wanted to hear it, that's fine. (David Friedman)

I think of my songs as there to be something to move people emotionally.

David Friedman

I write and direct the Duke University Children's Hospital Benefit every year.

David Friedman

I don't like to produce albums. I hate producing albums, as a matter of fact, because I'm an obsessed mixer and I can't leave it alone.

David Friedman

I publish my own music. I'm creating my own songbook. It works that way for me; I'm very independent.

David Friedman

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David Friedman

David Friedman - Image

Photo: Kat Walsh, GFDL

Occupation: American Economist
Born: February 12, 1945
Quotes count: 41
Wikipedia: David Friedman

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