"Adam Smith's flash of genius was his recognition that the prices that emerged from voluntary transactions between buyers and sellers - for short, in a free market - could coordinate the activity of millions of people, each seeking his own interest in such a way as to make everyone better off. It was a startling idea then, and it remains one today, that economic order can emerge as the unintended consequence of the actions of many people, each seeking his own interest." (Chapter 1, pg. 5)

"In countries like the United States the major productive resource is personal productive capacity - what economists call "human capital." (Chapter 1, pg. 12)

"Experience has shows that once government undertakes an activity, it is seldom terminated. The activity may not live up to expectation but that is more likely to lead to its expansion, to its being granted a larger budget, than to its curtailment...