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It should be known that at the beginning of a dynasty, taxation yields a large revenue from small assessments. At the end of the dynasty, taxation yields a small revenue from large assessments.

— Ibn Khaldun Muqaddimah (1377)

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More quotes by Ibn Khaldun

Businesses owned by responsible and organized merchants shall eventually surpass those owned by wealthy rulers.

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Geometry enlightens the intellect and sets one's mind right.

Muqaddimah vol. 3 (1380)

All the sciences came to exist in Arabic. The systematic works on them were written in Arabic writing.

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Eventually, Aristotle appeared among the Greeks. He improved the methods of logic and systematized its problems and details. He assigned to logic its proper place as the first philosophical discipline and the introduction to philosophy. Therefore he is called the First Teacher.

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The only people who accept slavery are the Negroes, owing to their low degree of humanity and proximity to the animal stage. Other persons who accept the status of slave do so as a means of attaining high rank, or power, or wealth, as is the case with the Mameluke Turks in the East and with those Franks and Galicians who enter the service of the state [in Spain].

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