Friedrich Hayek
Austrian-British economist and political philosopher (1899 to 1992); taught at the London School of Economics and the University of Chicago; shared the 1974 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences; author of The Road to Serfdom (1944) and The Constitution of Liberty (1960).
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What they believe
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Voluntary agreement can guide state action only in areas where people actually agree
We can rely on voluntary agreement to guide the action of the state only so long as it is confined to spheres where agreement exists.
books.google.comSaid c. 1944This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 23 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
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Voluntary agreement can guide state action only in areas where people actually agree
We can rely on voluntary agreement to guide the action of the state only so long as it is confined to spheres where agreement exists.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
Democracy's price is limiting deliberate control to areas of real agreement and leaving some things to chance
It is the price of democracy that the possibilities of conscious control are restricted to the fields where true agreement exists, and that in some fields things must be left to chance.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
Central planning leads to dictatorship because dictatorship is the most effective tool of coercion and enforcing ideals
Our point, however, is not that dictatorship must inevitably extirpate freedom, but rather that planning leads to dictatorship because dictatorship is the most effective instrument of coercion and the enforcement of ideals, and as such essential if central planning on a large scale is to be possible.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
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Observing the Rule of Law is what most clearly separates a free country from arbitrary government
Nothing distinguishes more clearly conditions in a free country from those in a country under arbitrary government than the observance in the former of the great principles known as the Rule of Law.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
The Rule of Law is one of the liberal age's greatest achievements and the legal embodiment of freedom
Rule of Law was consciously evolved only during the liberal age and is one of its greatest achievements, not only as a safeguard but as the legal embodiment of freedom.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
The Rule of Law, more than contract, should probably be seen as the true opposite of rule by status
Indeed, the Rule of Law, more than the rule of contract, should probably be regarded as the true opposite of the rule of status.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
While people freely control their income and possessions, economic loss only costs them their least important wants
So long as we can freely dispose over our income and all our possessions, economic loss will always deprive us only of what we regard as the least important of the desires we were able to satisfy.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
An authority directing all economic activity would control the limited means for all our ends
The authority directing all economic activity would control not merely the part of our lives which is concerned with inferior things; it would control the allocation of the limited means for all our ends.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
Freedom of choice under competition rests on being able to turn to someone else when one person refuses
Our freedom of choice in a competitive society rests on the fact that, if one person refuses to satisfy our wishes we can turn to another.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
An authority directing the whole economy would be the most powerful monopolist conceivable
But if we face a monopolist we are at his mercy. And an authority directing the whole economic system would be the most powerful monopolist conceivable.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
Private property is the most important guarantee of freedom, for owners and scarcely less for non-owners
What our generation has forgotten is that the system of private property is the most important guarantee of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
Only because control of production is divided among many independent people does nobody have complete power over us
It is only because the control of the means of production is divided among many people acting independently that nobody has complete power over us, that we as individuals can decide what to do with ourselves.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
A society as wealthy as ours has no reason not to guarantee basic security to all without endangering freedom
There is no reason why in a society that has reached the general level of wealth which ours has attained, the first kind of security should not be guaranteed to all without endangering general freedom.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
To preserve freedom, security must be provided outside the market and competition left to work unobstructed
But if these endeavours are to be successful and not to destroy individual freedom, security must be provided outside the market and competition be left to function unobstructed.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
In a society moving toward totalitarianism, the unscrupulous and uninhibited are likely to be more successful
It is for this reason that the unscrupulous and uninhibited are likely to be more successful in a society tending towards totalitarianism.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
Even when we are forced to choose between evils, they remain evils
Though we may sometimes be forced to choose between different evils they remain evils.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
There can be no international law without a power to enforce it
In the same way there can be no international law without a power to enforce it.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
A policy of freedom for the individual is still the only truly progressive policy, as in the nineteenth century
The guiding principle, that a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy, remains as true to-day as it was in the nineteenth century.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
Opposing central planning should not be confused with a dogmatic laissez-faire attitude
It is important not to confuse opposition against this kind of planning with a dogmatic laissez-faire attitude.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
The liberal case favours using competition to coordinate human efforts, not leaving things as they are
The liberal argument is in favour of making the best possible use of the forces of competition as a means of co-ordinating human efforts, not an argument for leaving things just as they are.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
To use their knowledge in making plans, individuals must be able to predict how the state will act
If the individuals are to be able to use their knowledge effectively in making plans, they must be able to predict actions of the state which may affect these plans.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
Intellectual progress needs not that everyone may think or write anything, but that any idea may be argued by someone
What is essential to make it serve its function as the prime mover of intellectual progress is not that everybody may be able to think or write anything, but that any cause or idea may be argued by somebody.
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
Submission to the impersonal forces of the market made possible a civilisation that could not otherwise have developed
It was men's submission to the impersonal forces of the market that in the past has made possible the growth of a civilisation which without this could not have developed
The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition) Said c. 1944
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