59 quotes
A correct theory is the first step towards improvement, by showing what we need and what we might accomplish.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
Logic should no longer be considered an elegant and learned accomplishment; it should take its place as an indispensable study for every well-informed person.
Elementary Lessons on Logic (1870)
An isolated man like Alexander Selkirk might feel the benefit of a stock of provisions, tools and other means of facilitating industry, although cut off from traffic, with other men.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
I protest against deference to any man, whether John Stuart Mill, or Adam Smith, or Aristotle, being allowed to check inquiry. Our science has become far too much a stagnant one, in which opinions rather than experience and reason are appealed to.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
Capital simply allows us to expend labour in advance.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
Some of the gold possessed by the Romans is doubtless mixed with what we now possess; and some small part of it will be handed down as long as the human race exists.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
Logic is not only an exact science, but is the most simple and elementary of all sciences; it ought therefore undoubtedly to find some place in every course of education.
Elementary Lessons on Logic (1870)
The theory which follows is entirely based on a calculus of pleasure and pain; and the object of economics is to maximize happiness by purchasing pleasure, as it were, at the lowest cost of pain.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
I consider that interest is determined by the increment of produce which it enables a labourer to obtain, and is altogether independent of the total return which he receives for this labour.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
When quite young I can remember I had no thought or wish of surpassing others. I was rather taken with a liking of little arts and bits of learning.
I feel quite unable to adopt the opinion that the moment goods pass into the possession of the consumer they cease altogether to have the attributes of capital.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
A spade may be made of any size, and if the same number of strokes be made in the hour, the requisite exertion will vary nearly as the cube of the length of the blade.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
We shall never have a science of economics unless we learn to discern the operation of law even among the most perplexing complications and apparent interruptions.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
My principal work now lies in tracing out the exact nature and conditions of utility. It seems strange indeed that economists have not bestowed more minute attention on a subject which doubtless furnishes the true key to the problems of economics.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
In matters of philosophy and science authority has ever been the great opponent of truth. A despotic calm is usually the triumph of error. In the republic of the sciences sedition and even anarchy are beneficial in the long run to the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
but, in reality, there is no such thing as an exact science.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
As there are so many who talk prose without knowing it, or, again, who syllogize without having the least idea what a syllogism is, so economists have long been mathematicians without being aware of the fact.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
The whole result of continued labour is not often consumed and enjoyed in a moment; the result generally lasts for a certain length of time. We must then conceive the capital as being progressively uninvested.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
In short, I do not write for mathematicians, nor as a mathematician, but as an economist wishing to convince other economists that their science can only be satisfactorily treated on an explicitly mathematical basis.
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)
"we often observe that there is abundance of capital to be had at low rates of interest, while there are also large numbers of artisans starving for want of employment."
The Theory of Political Economy (1871)