After order and liberty, economy is one of the highest essentials of a free government…. Economy is always a guarantee of peace.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
There is no gain so certain as that which arises from sparing what you have.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Economy before competence is meanness after it; therefore economy is for the poor; the rich may dispense with it.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
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 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
Economy is too late when you are at the bottom of your purse.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
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
People do not understand what a great revenue economy is.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
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
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
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
Economic progress, in capitalist society, means turmoil.
—Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) Austrian-American Political Economist, Sociologist
We can no longer allow America’s dependence on foreign oil to compromise our energy security. Instead, we must invest in inventing new ways to power our cars and our economy. I’ll put my faith in American science and ingenuity any day before I depend on Saudi Arabia.
—John Kerry (b.1943) American Politician, Diplomat
Mere parsimony is not economy…. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy…. Economy is a distributive virtue, and consists, not in saving, but in selection. Parsimony requires no providence, no sagacity, no powers of combination, no comparison, no judgment.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Economy is half the battle of life. It is not so hard to earn money as to spend it well.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
Economy is the method by which we prepare today to afford the improvements of tomorrow
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
Let honesty and industry be thy constant companions, and spend one penny less than thy clear gains; then shall thy pocket begin to thrive; creditors will not insult, nor want oppress, nor hunger bite, nor nakedness freeze thee.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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
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
Commerce is a game of skill, which every man cannot play, which few men can play well. The right merchant is one who has the just average of faculties we call commonsense; a man of strong affinity for facts, who makes up his decision on what he has seen. He is thoroughly persuaded of the truths of arithmetic. There is always a reason, in the man, for his good or bad fortune; and so, in making money. Men talk as if there were some magic about this, and believe in magic, in all parts of life. He knows that all goes on the old road, pound for pound, cent for cent-for every effect a perfect cause-and that good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There can be no economy where there is no efficiency.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
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 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 does not consist in saving the coal, but in using the time while it burns.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Commerce changes the fate and genius of nations.
—Thomas Gray (1716–71) English Poet, Book Collector
He who is taught to live upon little owes more to his father’s wisdom than he that has a great deal left him does to his father’s care.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
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
In the usual (though certainly not in every) public decision on economic policy, the choice is between courses that are almost equally good or equally bad. It is the narrowest decisions that are most ardently debated. If the world is lucky enough to enjoy peace, it may even one day make the discovery, to the horror of doctrinaire free-enterprisers and doctrinaire planners alike, that what is called capitalism and what is called socialism are both capable of working quite well.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
How great, my friends, is the virtue of living upon a little!
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
There can be economy only where there is efficiency.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat