“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.”

“Oh, I thought you were trying to build a canal. If it's jobs you want, then you should give these workers spoons, not shovels. [Reply to the government bureaucrat of one Asian country who told him that, reason why there were workers with shovels instead of modern tractors and earth movers at a worksite of a new canal, was that: "You don't understand. This is a jobs program."]”

“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”

“Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.”

“I say thank God for government waste. If government is doing bad things, it's only the waste that prevents the harm from being greater.”

“The existence of a free market does not of course eliminate the need for government. On the contrary, government is essential both as a forum for determining the "rule of the game" and as an umpire to interpret and enforce the rules decided on.”

“Governments never learn. Only people learn.”