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Capitalism12 quotes
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. — Adam Smith · 1776The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process of industrial mutation...That incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. — Joseph Schumpeter · 1942All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind. — Karl Marx · 1848There is no way of keeping profits up but by keeping wages down. — David Ricardo · 1822Economic progress, in capitalist society, means turmoil. — Joseph Schumpeter · 1942History suggests only that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition. — Milton Friedman · 1962All 12 quotes →Political theory12 quotes
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs! — Karl Marx · 1883In proportion as the antagonism between classes within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nation to another will come to an end. — Karl Marx · 1848The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property. — Karl Marx · 1848All systems, either of preference or of restraint, therefore, being thus completely taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men. — Adam Smith · 1776History suggests only that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition. — Milton Friedman · 1962I believe that in many cases the ideal size for the unit of control and organisation lies somewhere between the individual and the modern State. I suggest, therefore, that progress lies in the growth and the recognition of semi-autonomous bodies within the State. — John Maynard Keynes · 1926All 12 quotes →Politics6 quotes
The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. — Karl Marx · 1848From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs! — Karl Marx · 1883The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property. — Karl Marx · 1848There is an invisible hand in politics that operates in the opposite direction to the invisible hand in the market. In politics, individuals who seek to promote only the public good are led by an invisible hand to promote special interests that it was no part of their intention to promote. — Milton Friedman · 1983No man made the land. It is the original inheritance of the whole species. Its appropriation is wholly a question of general expediency. When private property in land is not expedient, it is unjust. — John Stuart Mill · 1848Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose. — John Maynard Keynes · 1919Economics5 quotes
But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. — John Maynard Keynes · 1924One of the main effects…of orthodox traditional economics was…a plan for explaining to the privileged class that their position was morally right and was necessary for the welfare of society. — Joan Robinson · 1937Economics limps along with one foot in untested hypotheses and the other in untestable slogans. — Joan Robinson · 1962Productivity isn't everything, but in the long run it is almost everything. — Paul Krugman · 1994Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose. — John Maynard Keynes · 1919Class conflict4 quotes
The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. — Karl Marx · 1848The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. — Karl Marx · 1848The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class. — Karl Marx · 1848In proportion as the antagonism between classes within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nation to another will come to an end. — Karl Marx · 1848Economic theory4 quotes
But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. — John Maynard Keynes · 1924All systems, either of preference or of restraint, therefore, being thus completely taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men. — Adam Smith · 1776There is no way of keeping profits up but by keeping wages down. — David Ricardo · 1822Consumption is the sole end and purpose of production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. — Adam Smith · 1776Free market4 quotes
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. — Adam Smith · 1776All systems, either of preference or of restraint, therefore, being thus completely taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men. — Adam Smith · 1776The market economy as such does not respect political frontiers. Its field is the world. — Ludwig von Mises · 1949Labour, like all other things which are purchased and sold, and which may be increased or diminished in quantity, has its natural and its market price. The natural price of labor is that price which is necessary to enable the laborers, one with another, to subsist and perpetuate their race, without either increase or diminution. — David Ricardo · 1817Marxism4 quotes
Marxian socialism must always remain a portent to the historians of opinion—how a doctrine so illogical and so dull can have exercised so powerful and enduring an influence over the minds of men and, through them, the events of history. — John Maynard Keynes · 1926Marxism is a religion. To the believer it presents, first, a system of ultimate ends that embody the meaning of life and are absolute standards by which to judge events and actions; and, secondly, a guide to those ends which implies a plan of salvation and the indication of the evil from which mankind, or a chosen section of mankind, is to be saved. — Joseph Schumpeter · 1942In one important sense, Marxism is a religion. To the believer it presents, first, a system of ultimate ends that embody the meaning of life and are absolute standards by which to judge events and actions; and, secondly, a guide to those ends which implies a plan of salvation and the indication of the evil from which mankind, or a chosen section of mankind, is to be saved. — Joseph Schumpeter · 1942Marxism is essentially a product of the bourgeois mind. — Joseph Schumpeter · 1942Property rights4 quotes
The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property. — Karl Marx · 1848No man made the land. It is the original inheritance of the whole species. Its appropriation is wholly a question of general expediency. When private property in land is not expedient, it is unjust. — John Stuart Mill · 1848The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not. — Friedrich Hayek · 1944Private property is a necessary institution, at least in a fallen world; men work more and dispute less when goods are private than when they are common. But it is to be tolerated as a concession to human frailty, not applauded as desirable in itself. — R.H. Tawney · 1926Communism3 quotes
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs! — Karl Marx · 1883A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism. — Karl Marx · 1848The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property. — Karl Marx · 1848Display of wealth3 quotes
With the greater part of rich people, the chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches; which, in their eye is never so complete as when they appear to possess those decisive marks of opulence which nobody can possess but themselves. — Adam Smith · 1776Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure. — Thorstein Veblen · 1899The chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches. — Adam Smith · 1776Freedom3 quotes
History suggests only that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition. — Milton Friedman · 1962The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not. — Friedrich Hayek · 1944Freedom in economic arrangements is itself a component of freedom broadly understood, so economic freedom is an end in itself...economic freedom is also an indispensable means toward the achievement of political freedom. — Milton Friedman · 1962Oppression3 quotes
The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. — Karl Marx · 1848The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. — Karl Marx · 1848Naturally, the workers are perfectly free; the manufacturer does not force them to take his materials and his cards, but he says to them…"If you don't like to be frizzled in my frying-pan, you can take a walk into the fire." — Friedrich Engels · 1845Status games3 quotes
With the greater part of rich people, the chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches; which, in their eye is never so complete as when they appear to possess those decisive marks of opulence which nobody can possess but themselves. — Adam Smith · 1776In order to gain and to hold the esteem of men it is not sufficient merely to possess wealth or power. The wealth or power must be put in evidence, for esteem is awarded only on evidence. — Thorstein Veblen · 1899The chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches. — Adam Smith · 1776Wealth3 quotes
Wealth is not without its advantages and the case to the contrary, although it has often been made, has never proved widely persuasive. — John Kenneth Galbraith · 1958The chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches. — Adam Smith · 1776When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals... The love of money as a possession—as distinguished from the love of money as a means to the enjoyments and realities of life—will be recognized for what it is, a somewhat disgusting morbidity, one of those semi-criminal, semi-pathological propensities which one hands over with a shudder to the specialists in mental disease. — John Maynard Keynes · 1930Conformity2 quotes
It will be convenient to have a name for the ideas which are esteemed at any time for their acceptability, and it should be a term that emphasizes this predictability. I shall refer to these ideas henceforth as the conventional wisdom. — John Kenneth Galbraith · 1958These are the days when men of all social disciplines and all political faiths seek the comfortable and the accepted; when the man of controversy is looked upon as a disturbing influence; when originality is taken to be a mark of instability; and when, in minor modification of the scriptural parable, the bland lead the bland. — John Kenneth Galbraith · 1958Consumerism2 quotes
In order to gain and to hold the esteem of men it is not sufficient merely to possess wealth or power. The wealth or power must be put in evidence, for esteem is awarded only on evidence. — Thorstein Veblen · 1899Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure. — Thorstein Veblen · 1899Democracy2 quotes
No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy. — Amartya Sen · 1999Bureaucracy is not an obstacle to democracy but an inevitable complement to it. — Joseph Schumpeter · 1942Government2 quotes
There is no art which one government sooner learns of another, than that of draining money from the pockets of the people. — Adam Smith · 1776I believe that in many cases the ideal size for the unit of control and organisation lies somewhere between the individual and the modern State. I suggest, therefore, that progress lies in the growth and the recognition of semi-autonomous bodies within the State. — John Maynard Keynes · 1926History2 quotes
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. — Karl Marx · 1848A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind. — John Maynard Keynes · 1926History of ideas2 quotes
The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class. — Karl Marx · 1848A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind. — John Maynard Keynes · 1926Life under capitalism2 quotes
All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind. — Karl Marx · 1848Economic progress, in capitalist society, means turmoil. — Joseph Schumpeter · 1942Profits2 quotes
There is no way of keeping profits up but by keeping wages down. — David Ricardo · 1822Nothing contributes so much to the prosperity and happiness of a country as high profits. — David Ricardo · 1822Self-interest2 quotes
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. — Adam Smith · 1776Every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it... he intends only his own security... and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. — Adam Smith · 1776The long run2 quotes
But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. — John Maynard Keynes · 1924Productivity isn't everything, but in the long run it is almost everything. — Paul Krugman · 1994Unintended consequences2 quotes
Every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it... he intends only his own security... and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. — Adam Smith · 1776There is an invisible hand in politics that operates in the opposite direction to the invisible hand in the market. In politics, individuals who seek to promote only the public good are led by an invisible hand to promote special interests that it was no part of their intention to promote. — Milton Friedman · 1983Workers2 quotes
Naturally, the workers are perfectly free; the manufacturer does not force them to take his materials and his cards, but he says to them…"If you don't like to be frizzled in my frying-pan, you can take a walk into the fire." — Friedrich Engels · 1845Labour, like all other things which are purchased and sold, and which may be increased or diminished in quantity, has its natural and its market price. The natural price of labor is that price which is necessary to enable the laborers, one with another, to subsist and perpetuate their race, without either increase or diminution. — David Ricardo · 1817Abuse of power1 quote
The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take. — C. Northcote Parkinson · 1958Academia1 quote
The discipline of colleges and universities is in general contrived, not for the benefit of the students, but for the interest, or more properly speaking, for the ease of the masters. — Adam Smith · 1776Adaptability1 quote
The power to become habituated to his surroundings is a marked characteristic of mankind. — John Maynard Keynes · 1919