Commerce flourishes by circumstances, precarious, transitory, contingent, almost as the winds and waves that bring it to our shores.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
In economics, hope and faith coexist with great scientific pretension and also a deep desire for respectability.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
People do not understand what a great revenue economy is.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
With the exception only of the period of the gold standard, practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to issue money to defraud and plunder the people.
—Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) British Economist, Social Philosopher
We are enjoying sluggish times and not enjoying them very much.
—George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) American Republican Statesman, 41st President
How great, my friends, is the virtue of living upon a little!
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
If we can “boondoggle” ourselves out of this depression, that word is going to be enshrined in the hearts of the American people for years to come.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
Commerce changes the fate and genius of nations.
—Thomas Gray (1716–71) English Poet, Book Collector
In economics the majority is always wrong.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
The existing world economic order constitutes a system of plundering and exploitation like no other in history.
—Fidel Castro (1927–2016) Cuban Statesman, Revolutionary
Economic growth may one day turn out to be a curse rather than a good, and under no conditions can it either lead into freedom or constitute a proof for its existence.
—Hannah Arendt (1906–75) German-American Philosopher, Political Theorist
An economist is someone who knows more about money than the people who have it.
—Unknown
Frugality is founded on the principal that all riches have limits.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
There is much of economic theory which is pursued for no better reason than its intellectual attraction; it is a good game. We have no reason to be ashamed of that, since the same would hold for many branches of mathematics.
—John Hicks (1904–89) English Economist
In a society of little economic development, universal inactivity accompanies universal poverty. You survive not by struggling against nature, or by increasing production, or by relentless labor; instead you survive by expending as little energy as possible, by striving constantly to achieve a state of immobility.
—Ryszard Kapuscinski (1932–2007) Polish Journalist
There can be economy only where there is efficiency.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
An economist’s guess is liable to be as good as anybody else’s.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
Be thrifty, but not covetous.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
It seems to be a law in American life that whatever enriches us anywhere except in the wallet inevitably becomes uneconomic.
—Russell Baker (1925–2019) American Journalist, Humorist, Television Host
Few can believe that suffering, especially by others, is in vain. Anything that is disagreeable must surely have beneficial economic effects.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
My other piece of advice, Copperfield, said Mr. Micawber, you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and – and in short you are for ever floored. As I am!
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
A Decalogue of Canons for observation in practical life. 1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day. 2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself. 3. Never spend your money before you have it. 4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you. 5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold. 6. We never repent of having eaten too little. 7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened. 9. Take things always by their smooth handle. 10. When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.
—Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American Head of State
Few are sufficiently sensible of the importance of that economy in reading which selects, almost exclusively, the very first order of books. Why, except for some special reason, read an inferior book, at the very time you might be reading one of the highest order?
—John W. Foster
A force that operates year-in and year-out, whenever we are at high employment, to push up prices. It’s a price creep, not a price gallop; but the bad thing about it is that, instead of setting in only after you have reached overfull employment, the suspicion is dawning that it may be a problem that plagues us even when we haven’t arrived at a satisfactory level of employment.
—Paul Samuelson (1915–2009) American Economist
The truth is, we are all caught in a great economic system which is heartless.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
We might come closer to balancing the Budget if all of us lived closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule.
—Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American Head of State
Commerce has set the mark of selfishness, the signet of its all-enslaving power, upon a shining ore, and called it gold: before whose image bow the vulgar great, the vainly rich, the miserable proud, the mob of peasants, nobles, priests, and kings, and with blind feelings reverence the power that grinds them to the dust of misery.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist