My appreciation of Hayek on the occasion of his 100th Birthday (May 8, 1999): “F. A. Hayek: Prophet of the Modern World”
I recall being at a birthday party for the great man in Vienna at the Handelskammer in, I think, 1988 or 1989, when Karl Milford, the grandson of the Austrian-Marxist Rudolf Hilferding, spoke. It was at that party that I met a wonderful Czech libertarian, Miroslav Sevcik, with whom I worked to promote liberty in Czechoslovakia when I was promoting liberty in the Soviet Bloc nations.
One of my biggest “regrets” is not being able to meet Hayek. I love that man as much as anyone can love a stranger.
I think of him as the most important thinker of the 20th century.
I understand Greg’s sentiment. Russell wrote of Spinoza something like “the most noble and lovable of all the great philosophers.” I feel something similar towards Hayek.