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Milton Friedman on Freedom and equality

A society that puts equality—in the sense of equality of outcome—ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests. On the other hand, a society that puts freedom first will, as a happy by-product, end up with both greater freedom and greater equality.
Free to Choose
Book, 1980, Ch. 5 “Created Equal”, p. 148
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  1. The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both.
    Created Equal
    Television, 1980, PBS, vol. 5
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  2. In my opinion, a society that aims for equality before liberty will end up with neither equality nor liberty. A society that aims first for liberty will not end up with equality, but it will end up with a closer approach to equality than any other kind of system that has ever been developed.
    Milton Friedman Speaks: The Role of Government in a Free Society
    Speech, 1978
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  3. When the law interferes with people's pursuit of their own values, they will try to find a way around. They will evade the law, they will break the law, or they will leave the country. Few of us believe in a moral code that justifies forcing people to give up much of what they produce to finance payments to persons they do not know for purposes they may not approve of. When the law contradicts what most people regard as moral and proper, they will break the law—whether the law is enacted in the name of a noble ideal such as equality or in the naked interest of one group at the expense of another. Only fear of punishment, not a sense of justice and morality, will lead people to obey the law.
    Free to Choose
    Book, 1980, Ch. 5 “Created Equal”, p. 145
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