Quotation of the Day…
by Don Boudreaux
on January 4, 2017
… is from pages 152-153 of F.A. Hayek’s last book, his 1988 volume, The Fatal Conceit:
Relations between individuals can exist only as products of their wills, but the mere wish of a claimant can hardly create a duty for others. Only expectations produced by long practice can create duties for the members of the community in which they prevail, which is one reason why prudence must be exercised in the creation of expectations, lest one incur a duty that one cannot fulfill….
Socialism has taught many people that they possess claims irrespective of performance, irrespective of participation. In light of the morals that produced the extended order of civilisation, socialists in fact incite people to break the law.
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