Thought for the day

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

If we strive for money, it is because it offers us the widest choice in enjoying the fruits of our efforts. Because in modern society we are made to feel the restrictions which our relative poverty still imposes on us, many have come to hate money as the symbol of these restrictions. But this is to mistake for the cause the medium through which a force makes itself felt. It would be much truer to say that money is one of the greatest instruments of freedom ever invented by man–a range greater than that which not many generations ago was open to the wealthy.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.