There is enormous inertia—a tyranny of the status quo—in private and especially governmental arrangements. Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.


Preface (1982 edition), p. ix - Capitalism and Freedom (1962)

Milton Friedman Quotes

There is enormous inertia—a tyranny of the status quo—in private and especially governmental arrangements. Only a crisis—actual or...

There is enormous inertia—a tyranny of the status quo—in private and especially governmental arrangements. Only a crisis—actual or...

There is enormous inertia—a tyranny of the status quo—in private and especially governmental arrangements. Only a crisis—actual or...

There is enormous inertia—a tyranny of the status quo—in private and especially governmental arrangements. Only a crisis—actual or...