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I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintainence of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing and it requires a self-denying ordinance of the most extreme kind. It requires a willingness to put up with temporary evils on the basis of the subtle and sophisticated understanding that if you step in to do something about them you not only may make them worse, you will spread your tentacles and get bad results elsewhere.

Milton Friedman#5

PoliticsFreedomEthicsInterventionSelf disciplineSociety

About this quote

What does it mean?
Maintaining a free society requires self‑denial and tolerating temporary evils, because intervening can worsen problems and create new ones.
In plain terms
Freedom needs sacrifice and patience; intervening can make things worse.
What can you take from it?
Accept short‑term discomfort to preserve long‑term liberty.

Where it applies

  • policy design
  • social reform
  • civil rights movements

Putting it to work

  • practice restraint
  • evaluate long‑term impacts

Questions to consider

  • When should we intervene despite risks?
  • How do we measure the cost of inaction?

Another view

Excessive tolerance can allow genuine harms to persist.

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