I, Pencil

The pencil details the complexity of its own creation, listing its components (cedar, lacquer, graphite, ferrule, factice, pumice, wax, glue) and the numerous people involved, down to the sweeper in the factory and the lighthouse keeper guiding the shipment into port.

Man can no more direct these millions of know-hows to bring me into being than he can put molecules together to create a tree.

Have faith that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand.

[2] Friedman used the essay in his 1980 PBS television show Free to Choose[3] and the accompanying book of the same name.

[4] In the 2008 50th Anniversary Edition, the introduction is written by Lawrence W. Reed and Friedman wrote the afterword.