One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.
Interpretation
It's important to evaluate the actual outcomes of policies, not just their good intentions.
Milton Friedman's quote emphasizes the necessity of assessing the effectiveness of policies and programs based on the results they yield, rather than merely on the intentions behind them. This perspective urges a more pragmatic approach to evaluation, advocating for accountability and the importance of outcomes in guiding decision-making and policy development.
In practice
During a policy debate, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of measuring success through outcomes rather than promises.
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.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. _x000D_ _x000D_ Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Things that look like shortcuts are actually detours (disguised as less work).
When you drop the ego, you drop a whole world that you have created around it. For the first time you are able to see things as they are - not as you would like them to be. And when you are capable of knowing the facts of life, you become capable of knowing the truth. The facility of life is the first step towards truth. And ego is the most falsifying agent.
There is no slavery but ignorance.
Itβs possible, Iβm moving through the hard veins of heavy mountains, like an arc, alone; Iβm so deep inside, I see no end in sight, and no distance: everything is getting near and everything near is turning to stone.
Watching how customers actually use a product provides much more reliable information than can be gleaned from a verbal interview or a focus group.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.