I recall my mother asking in about 1946 what I was and I replied proudly that I was a professor. A decade later she repeated her question and I repeated my answer. "No promotion?" was her comment.

...it is distressing how often one can guess the answer given to an economic question merely by knowing who asks it.

I attended schools in Seattle through the University of Washington, from which I was graduated in 1931. I spent the next year at Northwestern University.

The main insight learned from interdisciplinary studies is the return to specialization

Competition is a tough weed, not a delicate flower.

There is only one social science and we are its practitioners

If you never miss a plane, you’re spending too much time at the airport.

My teaching began in 1936 at Iowa State College where T. W. Schultz was the department chairman.

Theories are not rejected by cirsumstantial evidence: it takes a theory to beat a theory.

It was in the 1960s that I began the detailed study of public regulation.

All great economists are tall. There are two exceptions: John Kenneth Galbraith and Milton Friedman.

Don't ascribe to evil what can be attributed to well-intentioned stupidity.

I never listen to the radio unless I rent a car.

For me, I think the Lord wanted me to win to put a smile on Chinese people's faces.

Wishes on their way to coming true will not be rushed.

Just, harmonious, temperate as is the spirit of liberty, there is in the name and mere notion of it a vagueness so opposite to the definite clearness of the moral law.

Two races we've lost which I'm genuinely upset about were India and Turkey.

The pursuit of excellence is a continuous process through life. Enjoy the pursuit.

Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation as any painter's or sculptor's work.

Unix is back in vogue.

To me, bravery is to stand up for what you believe in.