If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow.
—George W. Bush (b.1946) American Head of State, Businessperson
I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
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
Economy has frequently nothing whatever to do with the amount of money being spent, but with the wisdom used in spending it.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Frugality is founded on the principal that all riches have limits.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Superfluity creates necessity, and necescity superfluity. Take care to be an economist in prosperity: there is no fear of your being one in adversity.
—Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–1795) Swiss Philosophical Writer, Naturalist, Physician
To make three guineas do the work of five.
—Robert Burns (1759–96) Scottish Poet, Songwriter
An economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance our budget, just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
In our time, the curse is monetary illiteracy, just as inability to read plain print was the curse of earlier centuries.
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
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
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
The day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems—the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behavior and religion.
—John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) English Economist
Economy is in itself a great source of revenue.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
Avoid fragmentation: Find your focus and seek simplicity. Purposeful living calls for elegant efficiency and economy of effort—expanding the minimum time and energy necessary to achieve desired goals.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
A sound economy is a sound understanding brought into action. It is calculation realized; it is the doctrine of proportion reduced to practice; it is foreseeing contingencies and providing against them; it is expecting contingencies and being prepared for them.
—Hannah More
There are but two ways of paying debt—increase of industry in raising income, increase of thrift in laying out.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
The animals that depend on instinct have an inherent knowledge of the laws of economics and of how to apply them; Man, with his powers of reason, has reduced economics to the level of a farce which is at once funnier and more tragic than Tobacco Road.
—James Thurber
Men talk in raptures of youth and beauty, wit and sprightliness; but after seven years of union, not one of them is to be compared to good family management, which is seen at every meal, and felt every hour in the husband’s purse.
—John Witherspoon (1723–94) Scottish-American Presbyterian Theologian
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
Economy is going without something you do want in case you should, some day, want something which you probably won’t want.
—Anthony Hope (1863–1933) English Novelist, Playwright
The whole of the global economy is based on supplying the cravings of two per cent of the world’s population.
—Bill Bryson (1951–95) American Humorist, Author, Educator
Thrift is care and scruple in the spending of one’s means. It is not a virtue and it requires neither skill nor talent.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
Nothing is cheap which is superfluous, for what one does not need, is dear at a penny.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
Economic progress, in capitalist society, means turmoil.
—Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) Austrian-American Political Economist, Sociologist
Economic growth without social progress lets the great majority of people remain in poverty, while a privileged few reap the benefits of rising abundance.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
A science of economics must be developed before a science of politics can be logically formulated. Essentially, economics is the science of determining whether the interests of human beings are harmonious or antagonistic. This must be known before a science of politics can be formulated to determine the proper functions of government.
—Frederic Bastiat (1801–50) French Political Economist
The science hangs like a gathering fog in a valley, a fog which begins nowhere and goes nowhere, an incidental, unmeaning inconvenience to passers-by.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
A man’s ordinary expenses ought to be but to the half of his receipts, and if he think to wax rich, but to the third part.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
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
Economy, whether public or private, means the wise management of labor, mainly in three senses; applying labor rationally, preserving its produce carefully, and distributing its produce seasonably.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Be thrifty, but not covetous.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
Thrift is that habit of character that prompts one to work for what he gets, to earn what is paid him; to invest a part of his earnings; to spend wisely and well; to save, but not hoard.
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940) English Statesman
Commerce changes the fate and genius of nations.
—Thomas Gray (1716–71) English Poet, Book Collector
Economy is the art of making the most of life. The love of economy is the root of all virtue.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Once upon a time my opponents honored me as possessing the fabulous intellectual and economic power by which I created a worldwide depression all by myself.
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid.
—John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) English Economist
The regard one shows economy, is like that we show an old aunt, who is to leave us something at last.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener
The man who will live above his present circumstances, is in great danger of soon living much beneath them; or as the Italian proverb says, “The man that lives by hope, will die by despair.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Ere you consult fancy, consult your purse.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
But while they prate of economic laws, men and women are starving. We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
The number one problem in today’s generation and economy is the lack of financial literacy.
—Alan Greenspan (b.1926) American Economist
Economists are economical, among other things, of ideas; most make those of their graduate days do for a lifetime.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose your own.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
Colleges don’t teach economics properly. Unfortunately we learn little from the experience of the past. An economist must know, besides his subject, ethics, logic, philosophy, the humanities and sociology, in fact everything that is part of how we live and react to one another.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
Radicalism itself ceases to be radical when absorbed mainly in preserving its control over a society or an economy.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
People do not understand what a great revenue economy is.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
There can be no economy where there is no efficiency.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
The world abhors closeness, and all but admires extravagance; yet a slack hand shows weakness, and a tight hand strength.
—Sir Thomas Buxton, 1st Baronet (1786–1845) English Politician, Social Reformer
If you took all the economists in the world and laid them end-to-end, they couldn’t reach a conclusion
—Unknown