16 Quotes by Friedrich Hayek

It is be­cause freedom means the renun­ciation of direct control of individual efforts that a free society can make use of so much more knowledge than the mind of the wisest ruler could comprehend.

The great misfortune of our generation is that the direction which by the amazing progress of the natural sciences has been given to its interests is not one which assists us in comprehending the larger process of which as individuals we form merely a part or in appreciating how we constantly contribute to a common effort without either directing it or submitting to orders of others.

To act on the belief that we possess the knowledge and the power which enable us to shape the processes of society entirely to our liking, knowledge which in fact we do not possess, is likely to make us do much harm.

The views of intellectuals influence the politics of tomorrow...What to the contemporary observer appears as the battle of conflicting interests has indeed often been described long before in a clash of ideas confined to narrow circles.

There is no answer in the available literature to the question why a government monopoly of the provision of money is universally regarded as indispensable. ... It has the defects of all monopolies.

Who can seriously doubt that a member of a small racial or religious minority will be freer with no property so long as fellow-members of his community have property and are therefore able to employ him, than he would be if private property were abolished and he became owner of a nominal share in the communal property?

Ogni tentativo di controllare i prezzi o le quantità di particolari beni priva la concorrenza del suo potere di realizzare un efficace coordinamento degli sforzi individuali, perché i cambiamenti di prezzo cessano di registrare tutti i cambiamenti rilevanti nelle circostanze e non forniscono più una guida affidabile alle azioni degli individui.