21 quotes
In general it may be said that demand is quite as necessary to the increase of capital as the increase of capital is to demand.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
To minds of a certain cast there is nothing so captivating as simplification and generalization.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
A feather will weigh down a scale when there is nothing in the opposite one.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
But, fortunately for mankind, the neat rents of the land, under a system of private property, can never be diminished by the progress of cultivation.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
It is not the most pleasant employment to spend eight hours a day in a counting house.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
Every exchange which takes place in a country, effects a distribution of its produce better adapted to the wants of society....
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
It has been said, and perhaps with truth, that the conclusions of Political Economy partake more of the certainty of the stricter sciences than those of most of the other branches of human knowledge.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
If a country can only be rich by running a successful race for low wages, I should be disposed to say at once, perish such riches!
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
The first business of philosophy is to account for things as they are; and till our theories will do this, they ought not to be the ground of any practical conclusion.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
It is a mere futile process to exchange one set of commodities for another, if the parties; after this new distribution of goods has taken place, are not better off than they were before.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
It is also very important to observe, that menial servants are absolutely necessary to make the resources of the higher and middle classes of society efficient in the demand for material products.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
The question is, what is saving?
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
The science of political economy is essentially practical, and applicable to the common business of human life. There are few branches of human knowledge where false views may do more harm, or just views more good.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
...where are we to look for the consumption required but among the unproductive labourers of Adam Smith?...
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
There must therefore be a considerable class of persons who have both the will and power to consume more material wealth than they produce, or the mercantile classes could not continue profitably to produce so much more than they consume.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
Thirty or forty proprietors, with incomes answering to between one thousand and five thousand a year, would create a much more effectual demand for the necessaries, conveniences, and luxuries of life, than a single proprietor possessing a hundred thousand a year.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
In prosperous times the mercantile classes often realize fortunes, which go far towards securing them against the future; but unfortunately the working classes, though they share in the general prosperity, do not share in it so largely as in the general adversity.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
On the whole it may be observed, that the specific use of a body of unproductive consumers, is to give encouragement to wealth by maintaining such a balance between produce and consumption as will give the greatest exchangeable value to the results of the national industry.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
When Hume and Adam Smith prophesied that a little increase of national debt beyond the then amount of it, would probably occasion bankruptcy; the main cause of their error was the natural one, of not being able to see the vast increase of productive power to which the nation would subsequently obtain.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)
The employment of the poor in roads and public works, and a tendency among landlords and persons of property to build, to improve and beautify their grounds, and to employ workmen and menial servants, are the means most within our power and most directly calculated to remedy the evils arising from that disturbance in the balance of produce and consumption.
Principles of Political Economy (1836)