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We must make the building of a free society once more an intellectual adventure, a deed of courage. What we lack is a liberal Utopia, a programme which seems neither a mere defence of things as they are nor a diluted kind of socialism, but a truly liberal radicalism which does not spare the susceptibilities of the mighty (including the trade unions), which is not too severely practical and which does not confine itself to what appears today as politically possible:Those who have concerned themselves exclusively with what seemed practicable in the existing state of opinion have constantly found that even this has rapidly become politically impossible as the result of changes in a public opinion which they have done nothing to guide. Unless we can make the philosophic foundations of a free society once more a living intellectual issue, and its implementation a task which challenges the ingenuity and imagination of our liveliest minds, the prospects of freedom are indeed dark. But if we can regain that belief in power of ideas which was the mark of liberalism at its best, the battle is not lost.

Friedrich Hayek#3

FreedomSocietyCourageVision

About this quote

What does it mean?
Building a free society needs courage and a liberal utopia that goes beyond current politics.
In plain terms
We need bold new ideas for freedom, not just defending the status quo.
What can you take from it?
Create inspiring visions for freedom that challenge current limits.

Where it applies

  • activism
  • policy advocacy
  • education

Putting it to work

  • develop new ideas
  • inspire others
  • push beyond limits

Questions to consider

  • What would a truly free society look like?
  • How do you inspire change in a divided world?

Another view

Radical visions might alienate potential supporters who prefer practical steps.

More from Friedrich Hayek

  1. [Apartheid in South Africa] appears to be a clear and even extreme instance of that discrimination between different individuals which seems to me to be incomp…

    Permalink to quote #2
  2. If the human intellect is allowed to impose a preconceived pattern on society, if our powers of reasoning are allowed to lay claim to a monopoly of creative ef…

    Permalink to quote #4
  3. Socialism has never and nowhere been at first a working-class movement. It is by no means an obvious remedy for the obvious evil which the interests of that cl…

    Permalink to quote #1

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