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The easy way to make money is to get special political privilege. From the beginning of time, business has cozied up to government and gotten restrictions on competition and subsidies and stuff.

Charles Koch

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Charles Koch
Age: 89
Born: 1935
Born: November 1
Businessman
Businessperson
Wichita
Kansas
Charles G. Koch
Charles de Ganahl Koch
Money
Gotten
Political
Privilege
Government
Competition
Way
Beginning
Make
Special
Time
Easy
Subsidies
Business
Restrictions
Stuff
Restriction

More quotes by Charles Koch

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I've had the philosophy that John Adams expressed, in the kind of system that we're trying to create in this country: that this is a system for moral people. It will work for no other.
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We find that when we make an acquisition, or we have a hiring experience, that's one of the hardest things to change. If you've been working for a company where you didn't dare challenge your boss, or what's politically correct in the company, then it affects your career.
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They say your genetics are going to set your direction regardless of what happens, but I think there's more to it than that.
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We must measure what leads to results, not simply what is easy to measure.
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My father would always say learn everything you can and whenever you can, because you never know when it'll come in handy.
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There are now businesses and entire industries that exist solely as a result of federal patronage. Profiting from government instead of earning profits in the economy, such businesses can continue to succeed even if they are squandering resources and making products that people wouldn't ordinarily buy.
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Repeatedly asking for government help undermines the foundations of society by destroying initiative and responsibility. It is also a fatal blow to efficiency and corrupts the political process.
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The role of business is to provide products and services that make peoples lives better - while using fewer resources - and to act lawfully and with integrity.
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I try to hire people who will challenge and have the humility to be challenged - people who have basically good values.
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No centralized government, no matter how big, how smart or how powerful, can effectively and efficiently control much of society in a beneficial way. On the contrary, big governments are inherently inefficient and harmful.
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To be happy you have to fulfill your nature. That's what Aristotle taught so many centuries ago, that the road to happiness isn't to go drink more or consume more. The road to happiness is to fully develop your abilities, and then apply them to do good.
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Success is one of the worst enemies of success, because success tends to breed complacency and lack of humility.
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You'll remember Newton was furious at Leibniz, because he developed calculus at the same time. And he went to his death believing that he had copied him. And no, it's because all the elements were there, so it's almost inevitable that the next discovery - as long as people are free and allowed to experiment and try new things.
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I don't have all the answers. I have a lot of questions. And I have some basic principles.
Charles Koch
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I've always believed in the saying that there is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit.
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Years later, when I asked my father, I said 'Pop, why were you so much harder on me than my younger brothers?' he said, son, you plum wore me out.
Charles Koch
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I studied what principles under-laid peace and prosperity and concluded the only way to achieve societal well-being was through a system of economic freedom.
Charles Koch
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Most power is power to coerce somebody. We don't have the power to coerce anybody.
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Just keep trying things, without really understanding the underlying fibers of well-being, or peace or civility, then you're just going to stumble from one disaster to another.
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The great thing about my parents is they didn't preach anything they didn't practice.
Charles Koch