Quotes of the half-century

If central planners took overt control of a number of industries and then ran them into the ground, then there would be a clear lesson learned. Instead, they take partial control through regulation and now through "investment," still run such companies into the ground, but can then blame it on the market system.--David Rose

Pork barrel spending does not improve a state. If it did, West Virginia and Mississippi would be No. 1 and No. 2 in personal income among the 50 states. They are No. 49 and No. 50.--Don Surber

The free market is just a measurement, a device to tell us what people are willing to pay for any given thing at any given moment. The free market is a bathroom scale. You may hate what you see when you step on the scale. "Jeeze, 230 pounds!" But you can't pass a law making yourself weigh 185. Liberals think you can. And voters--all the voters, right up to the tippy-top corner office of Goldman Sachs--think so too.--P.J. O'Rourke

Of course, the laws of science contain no matter and have no energy either and therefore do not exist except in people’s minds. It’s best to be completely scientific about the whole thing and refuse to believe in either ghosts or the laws of science. That way you’re safe. That doesn’t leave you very much to believe in, but that’s scientific too.--Robert Pirsig