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William Petty

William Petty Books

Economist

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“An house is of a double nature, viz., one, wherein it is a way and means of expence, the other as it is an instrument and tool of gain.”

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Book:Tracts, Chiefly Relating to Ireland: Containing: 1. A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions. II. Essays in Political Arithmetic. III. The Political Anatomy of Ireland
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“No man pays double or twice for the same thing, forasmuch as nothing can be spent but once.”

MenPayDouble Standard
Book:Tracts; Chiefly Relating to Ireland: Containing: I. A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions. II. Essays in Political Arithmetic. III. The Political Anatomy of Ireland. By the Late Sir William Petty. To which is Prefixed His Last Will
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“Raising of money may indeed change the species, but with so much loss as the foreign pieces were raised unto, above their intrinsick value.”

MayValuesChangeLossPiecesRaisedSpecies
Book:Tracts, Chiefly Relating to Ireland: Containing: 1. A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions. II. Essays in Political Arithmetic. III. The Political Anatomy of Ireland
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“A thousand acres that can feed a thousand souls is better than ten thousand acres of no more effect.”

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Book:Tracts, Chiefly Relating to Ireland: Containing: 1. A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions. II. Essays in Political Arithmetic. III. The Political Anatomy of Ireland
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“Causes of Civil War are also, that the Wealth of the Nation is in too few mens hands, and that no certain means are provided to keep all men from a necessity either to beg, or steal, or be Souldiers.”

MenMeanWarHandsCertainNationsCausesWealthStealingCivil War
Book:Tracts, Chiefly Relating to Ireland: Containing: 1. A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions. II. Essays in Political Arithmetic. III. The Political Anatomy of Ireland
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“It were good to know how much hay an acre of every sort will bear; how many cattle the same weight of each sort of hay will feed and fatten; what quantity of grain and other commodities the same acre will bear in one, three or seven years; unto what use each soil is proper; all which particulars I call intrinsic value, for there is also another value merely accidental or extrinsic.”

KnowsYearsUseValuesThreeKnow HowBearsWeightSevenSoilQuantityGrainCommoditySeven YearsCattleAcresHayIntrinsic Value
Author:William Petty
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“Without the knowledge of the true number of the people, as a principle, the whole scope and use of keeping bills of birth and burials is impaired; wherefore by laborious conjectures and calculations to deduce the number of people from the births and burials, may be ingenious, but very preposterous.”

PeopleMayWholeUseNumbersPrinciplesBirthBillsScopeCalculationsIngeniousBurialConjecture
Book:The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty: Together with the Observations Upon the Bills of Mortality More Probably by John Graunt
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“The method I take to do this is not yet very usual; for instead of using only comparative and superlative Words, and intellectual Arguments, I have taken the course (as a Specimen of the Political Arithmetic I have long aimed at) to express myself in Terms of Number, Weight, or Measure; to use only Arguments of Sense, and to consider only such Causes, as have visible Foundations in Nature.”

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Author:William Petty
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