The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Adam Smith2 quotes
All 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 · 1776Consumption 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 · 1776Abraham Lincoln1 quote
Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. — Abraham Lincoln · 1861Benjamin Franklin1 quote
No nation was ever ruined by trade. — Benjamin Franklin · 1780David Ricardo1 quote
There is no way of keeping profits up but by keeping wages down. — David Ricardo · 1822Franklin D. Roosevelt1 quote
The first theory is that if we make the rich richer, somehow they will let a part of their prosperity trickle down to the rest of us. The second theory...was the theory that if we make the average of mankind comfortable and secure, their prosperity will rise upward, just as yeast rises up, through the ranks. — Franklin D. Roosevelt · 1932John Maynard Keynes1 quote
But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. — John Maynard Keynes · 1924