“The true test of any scholar's work is not what his contemporaries say, but what happens to his work in the next 25 or 50 years.”

— Milton Friedman

As quoted in The Power of Choice (January 2007)
Context: The true test of any scholar's work is not what his contemporaries say, but what happens to his work in the next 25 or 50 years. And the thing that I will really be proud of is if some of the work I have done is still cited in the text books long after I am gone.

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Milton Friedman 158

American economist, statistician, and writer 1912–2006

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“Dylan is free now to work on his own terms. It would be foolish to predict what he will do next.”

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Context: Dylan is free now to work on his own terms. It would be foolish to predict what he will do next. But hopefully he will remain a mediator, using the language of pop to transcend it. If the gap between past and present continues to widen, such mediation may be crucial. In a communications crisis, the true prophets are the translators.

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“We heard the shots in the night
But nobody knew next day what the trouble was
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Context: We heard the shots in the night
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Context: Well I certainly second that, I think in addition, well I mean other things I've written suggest reading a lot of history, and uh, clearly one of the things you want people to understand is the uncertainty of things. I mean, how you really have to look at a variety of alternative futures. Any notion that you know what's going to happen, I think is, not going to work.

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“The true test of any scholar's work is not what his contemporaries say, but what happens to his work in the next 25 or 50 years.”

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Milton Friedman 158

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