“A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.”

— Milton Friedman

From Created Equal, an episode of the PBS Free to Choose television series (1980, vol. 5 transcript) http://www.freetochoosemedia.org/broadcasts/freetochoose/detail_ftc1980_transcript.php?page=5.
Variant: The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both.

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Milton Friedman 158

American economist, statistician, and writer 1912–2006

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