Humility is the distinguishing virtue of the believer in freedom; arrogance, of the paternalist.
Interpretation
Humility is essential for those who truly value freedom, while arrogance is characteristic of those who impose their will on others.
In this quote, Milton Friedman emphasizes the importance of humility as a necessary trait for individuals who advocate for freedom and self-determination. In contrast, he suggests that arrogance is typical of paternalistic attitudes where one assumes authority over others, diminishing their autonomy and freedom.
In practice
In a discussion about leadership styles, one might use this quote to illustrate the difference between humble and arrogant leaders.
The economic miracle that has been the United States was not produced by socialized enterprises, by government-unon-industry cartels or by centralized economic planning. It was produced by private enterprises in a profit-and-loss system. And losses were at least as important in weeding out failures, as profits in fostering successes. Let government succor failures, and we shall be headed for stagnation and decline.
Universities exist to transmit knowledge and understanding of ideas and values to students not to provide entertainment for spectators or employment for athletes.
There is no place for government to prohibit consumers from buying products the effect of which will be to harm themselves.
There is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.
The great danger to the consumer is the monopoly -whether private or governmental. His most effective protection is free competition at home and free trade throughout the world. The consumer is protected from being exploited by one seller by the existence of another seller from whom he can buy and who is eager to sell to him. Alternative sources of supply protect the consumer far more effectively than all the Ralph Naders of the world.
The strongest argument for free enterprise is that it prevents anybody from having too much power. Whether that person is a government official, a trade union official, or a business executive. If forces them to put up or shut up. They either have to deliver the goods, produce something that people are willing to pay for, are willing to buy, or else they have to go into a different business.
One could say, with a little exaggeration, that the persona is that which in reality one is not, but which oneself as well as others think one is.
Live near to God, and so all things will appear to you little In comparison to eternal realities.
It is natural to give a clear view of the world after accepting the idea that it must be clear.
There comes a moment when the things one has written, even a traveler's memories, stand up and demand a justification. They require an explanation. They query, 'Who am I? What is my name? Why am I here?
Self-sacrifice, not self-assertion, is the law of the highest universe.
What we really are is a community of mind, knitted together by codes and symbols, intuitions, aspirations, histories, hopes - the invisible world of the human experience is far more real to us than the visible world, which is little more than a kind of stage or screen on which we move.
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