Quotessence
Home / Topics / Commodity Quotes

Commodity Quotes

Browse 606 quotes about Commodity.

Related topics

IfsPeopleWorldThinkingMenValuesWayValuableMayMeanShouldKnowsHumansUseArtCountryEconomyGoldProductsSellsMadeProductionsDemandUsedHas BeensOilWantKindGivingCultureLabourNeedsRealRunningFormGovernmentIdeasPoliticalTurnsBelieveCareCertainImportantIndividualLaborLongMatterSellingSoulTodayBusinessCapitalismConditionsConsumersDoeEarthFactsObjectsQuantityStatesTakenTwoWritingAbilityAnimalCapitalistCommodity PricesCommonCompanyCompetitionEconomicsEndsFallFirstsIndustryLooksMovingNaturalProcessProduceProfitResourcesTaxesTradeWellsYearsClassCommerceCostCuttingDifferentEnoughHandsIncreaseMarketingPayPersonsProducersQualityReasonmore

Commodity Quotes

“A mental disease has swept the planet: banalization. Everyone is hypnotized by production and comfort -- sewage system, elevator, bathroom, washing machine. This state of affairs, which arose out of a struggle against poverty, overshoots its ultimate goal -- the liberation of humanity from material cares -- and becomes an obsessive image hanging over the present. Between love and a garbage disposal, young people of all countries have made their choice and prefer the garbage disposal. A complete and sudden change of spirit has become essential, by bringing to light forgotten desires and creating entirely new ones. And by an intensive propaganda in favor of these desires. Gilles Ivain (aka Ivan Chtcheglov)”

DesireEconomyMaterialismCommoditySituationist37
Book:The Situationists and the City: A Reader
Create image

“Every commodity has value in so far as it incorporates socially necessary labour time, and is the outcome of a social process of production. It enters the process of exchange as a bearer of value. This is the sense of Marx's remark that, `the act of exchange gives to the commodity converted into money, not its value, but its specific value form'. /Capital, /vol. I, p. 103. [MECW 35, p101]”

MoneyValueCommoditySocially Necessary Labour TimeValue Form
Book:Finance Capital: A study in the latest phase of capitalist development
Create image

“A use-value, or useful article, therefore, has value only because abstract human labour is objectified or materialized in it. How, then, is the magnitude of value to be measured? By means of the quantity of the "value-forming substance", the labour, contained in the article. This quantity is measured by its duration, and the labour-time is itself measured on the particular scale of hours, days etc.”

ValueCommodityCapitalKarl MarxAbstract LaborLabor TimeUse Value
Book:Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1
Create image

“A use-value, or useful article, therefore, has value only because abstract human labour is objectified or materialized in it. How, then, is the magnitude of this value to be measured? By means of the quantity of the "value-forming substance", the labour, contained in the article. This quantity is measured by its duration, and the labour-time is itself measured on the particular scale of hours, days etc.”

ValueCommodityCapitalKarl MarxAbstract LaborLabor TimeUse Value
Book:Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1
Create image

“Do you feel educated? Knowledge spreads through sharing, not through selling it. The consumeristic institutionalisation of education is essentially flawed. It takes away the process of mental growth and begets learning as a commodity rather than as a necessity for understanding. In such an academic dystopia all virtue of knowledge is lost and all that is produced is a youth who, in comparison to the society, carries more greeds, more fears, more dogmas and more illegitimate prejudices.”

Life LessonsFearEducationKnowledgeLearningYouthGreedDogmaCommodityInstitutionalization
Author:Huseyn Raza
Create image

“If we could treat every natural resource as a gift rather than a commodity, we would be on the path to sustainability. The difference is that a gift does not belong to us but to the universe. It comes into our lives from a source that is unknown and ultimately unknowable; eventually , it returns to its source.”

SpiritualSpiritSpiritualityGiftSustainabilitySpirituality QuotesCommodityGifts Of The SpiritSustainability Quotes
Book:The Way of Play: Reclaiming Divine Fun & Celebration
Create image

“Mad world, mad kings, mad composition! John, to stop Arthur’s title in the whole, Hath willingly departed with a part; And France, whose armour conscience buckled on, Whom zeal and charity brought to the field As God’s own soldier, rounded in the ear With that same purpose-changer, that sly devil, That broker that still breaks the pate of faith, That daily break-vow, he that wins of all, Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids,— Who having no external thing to lose But the word ‘maid’, cheats the poor maid of that— That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling commodity; Commodity, the bias of the world, The world who of itself is peisèd well, Made to run even upon even ground, Till this advantage, this vile-drawing bias, This sway of motion, this commodity, Makes it take head from all indifferency, 580 From all direction, purpose, course, intent; And this same bias, this commodity, This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word, Clapped on the outward eye of fickle France, Hath drawn him from his own determined aid, From a resolved and honourable war, To a most base and vile-concluded peace. And why rail I on this commodity? But for because he hath not wooed me yet— Not that I have the power to clutch my hand When his fair angels would salute my palm, But for my hand, as unattempted yet, Like a poor beggar raileth on the rich. Well, whiles I am a beggar I will rail, And say there is no sin but to be rich, And being rich, my virtue then shall be To say there is no vice but beggary. Since kings break faith upon commodity, Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee.”

PoliticsClassFortuneCommodity
Book:King John
Create image

“Value your time poorly and you will be poor. When time is wasted as a lifestyle choice you will be stranded in places you don't want to be. Take a look around. How do your friends, family, and peers value their time? Are they standing in line to save four bucks? Are they driving 40 minutes to save 10 dollars? Are they parked on the sofa anxiously waiting to see who wins Dancing With the Stars?”

MoneyTime ManagementCommodity
Book:The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime!
Create image

“Exchange converts a good into a commodity, an object no longer intended for the satisfaction of an individual need or brought into existence and vanishing with that need. On the contrary, it is intended for society, and its fate, now dependent on the laws which govern the social circulation of goods, can be far more capricious than that of Odysseus; for what is one-eyed Polyphemus compared with the argus-eyed customs officials of Newport, or the fair Circe compared with the German meat inspectors? It has become a commodity because its producers participate in a specific social relationship in which they have to confront each other as independent producers. Originally a natural, quite unproblematic thing, a good comes to express a social relation, acquires a social aspect. It is a product of labour, no longer merely a natural quality but a social phenomenon. We must therefore discover the law which governs this society as a producing and working community. Individual labour now appears in a new aspect, as part of the total labour force over which society disposes, and only from this point of view does it appear as value-creating labour.”

SocietySatisfactionGoodLabourNeedCommodityExchangeIndependent ProducerSocial Circulation Of GoodsValue Creating Labour
Book:Finance Capital: A study in the latest phase of capitalist development
Create image

“Exchange is thus accessible to analysis because it not only satisfies individual needs, but is also a social necessity which makes individual need its instrument while at the same time limiting its satisfaction. For a need can be satisfied only to the extent that social necessity will permit. It is of course a presupposition, for human society is inconceivable without the satisfaction of individual needs. This does not mean, however, that exchange is simply a function of individual need, as indeed it would be in a collectivist economy, but that individual needs are satisfied only to the extent that exchange allows them to participate in the product of society. It is this participation which determines exchange. The latter appears to be simply a quantitative ratio between two things,[4] which is determined when this quantity is determined. The quantity which is turned over in exchange, however, counts only as a part of social production, which itself is quantitatively determined by the labour time that society assigns to it. Society is here conceived as an entity which employs its collective labour power to produce the total output, while the individual and his labour power count only as organs of that society. In that role, the individual shares in the product to the extent that his own labour power participates, on average, in the total labour power (assuming the intensity and productivity of labour to be fixed). If he works too slowly or if his work produces something useless (an otherwise useful article would be considered useless if it constituted an excess of goods in circulation), his labour power is scaled down to average labour time, i.e. socially necessary labour time. The aggregate labour time for the total product, once given, must therefore find expression in exchange. In its simplest form, this happens when the quantitative ratios between goods exchanged correspond to the quantitative ratios of the socially necessary labour time expended in their production. Commodities would in that case exchange at their values.”

NeedCommodityExchangeSocially Necessary Labour TimeCollectivist EconomyIndividual Need
Book:Finance Capital: A study in the latest phase of capitalist development
Create image

“The profit-oriented print and electronic media have made news itself a commodity which is sold on the basis of demand and supply. They sell what people want. The government can ban drugs and intoxicants which are harmful to society, but there is no such mechanism to ban media from selling harmful news. People have become so addicted to negative news nowadays that they don’t want to see good news at all.”

DemandGoodCommoditySellHarmfulAddictedSoldIntoxicants
Book:Myths are Real, Reality is a Myth
Create image

“Commodities are the embodiment of socially necessary labour time. But labour time as such is not expressed directly, as it is in the society envisaged by Rodbertus, in which the central authority establishes the unit of labour time which it will accept as valid for each commodity. Labour time is expressed only in the exchange commensurability of two articles. Thus the value of an article, i.e., its average time of production, is not expressed directly as eight, ten or twelve hours, but as a specific quantity of another article. In other words, a natural object with all its material attributes expresses the equivalent value of another thing. For example, in the equation, one coat equals twenty metres of linen, the twenty metres of linen are the equivalent of one coat simply because both are embodiments of socially necessary labour time. It is in this sense that all commodities are commensurable.”

CommodityExchangeSocially Necessary Labour TimeCommensurability
Book:Finance Capital: A study in the latest phase of capitalist development
Create image

“In our modern world, this elemental quality of storytelling is denied. We live today in a world in which everything has its place and function and nothing is left out of place. Storytelling is thus at a discount and like everything else in a world ruled by the laws of exchange value, literature is required to submit itself to the requirements of the market and must learn, like any other commodity, to adapt and serve needs that lie outside of itself and its concrete value. It is forced to stand not for itself but for an ideological cause of one sort or another, whether it be political, social or literary. It cannot exist for itself: like everything else it has to be justified. And for this very reason the power of storytelling is automatically devalued. Literature is reduced to the status of complimentary utilitarian functions: as a pastime to provide distraction and entertainment, or as a heightened activity that would claim to explore 'great truths' about the human condition.”

WritingArtStoriesLiteratureEntertainmentWritersCommoditySurrealism
Book:Dedalus Book of Surrealism 2: The Myth of the World
Create image

“Great writers and my mom never used food as an object. Instead it was a medium, a catalyst to mend hearts, to break down barriers, to build relationships. Mom's cooking fed body and soul. She used to quip, "If the food is good, there's no need to talk about the weather." That was my mantra for years---food as meal and conversation, a total experience. I leaned my forehead against the glass and thought again about Emma and the arrowroot. Mom had highlighted it in my sophomore English class. "Jane Fairfax knew it was given with a selfish heart. Emma didn't care about Jane, she just wanted to appear benevolent." "That girl was stupid. She was poor and should've accepted the gift." The football team had hooted for their spokesman. "That girl's name was Jane Fairfax, and motivation always matters." Mom's glare seared them. I tried to remember the rest of the lesson, but couldn't. I think she assigned a paper, and the football team stopped chuckling. Another memory flashed before my eyes. It was from that same spring; Mom was baking a cake to take to a neighbor who'd had a knee replacement. "We don't have enough chocolate." I shut the cabinet door. "We're making an orange cake, not chocolate." "Chocolate is so much better." "Then we're lucky it's not for you. Mrs. Conner is sad and she hurts and it's spring. The orange cake will not only show we care, it'll bring sunshine and spring to her dinner tonight. She needs that." "It's just a cake." "It's never just a cake, Lizzy." I remembered the end of that lesson: I rolled my eyes----Mom loathed that----and received dish duty. But it turned out okay; the batter was excellent. I shoved the movie reel of scenes from my head. They didn't fit in my world. Food was the object. Arrowroot was arrowroot. Cake was cake. And if it was made with artisan dark chocolate and vanilla harvested by unicorns, all the better. People would crave it, order it, and pay for it. Food wasn't a metaphor---it was the commodity---and to couch it in other terms was fatuous. The one who prepared it best won.”

MotivationFood For ThoughtCommodityEmmaMetaphoricalMemories Of MotherWith LoveRight And Wrong Point Of View
Book:Lizzy and Jane
Create image

“For the greater part of human history, and in places in the world today, common resources were the rule. But some invented a different story, a social construct in which everything ins a commodity to be bought and sold. The market economy story has spread like wildfire, with uneven results for human well-being and devastation for the natural world. But it it just a story we have told ourselves and we are free to tell another, to reclaim the old one.”

CommodityMarket EconomyCommon Resources
Book:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Create image

“You sound like you're offering more than what you really are. Almost like a sugar baby or something. But we can punch this up and really package you as someone they're going to want to support. It's not about your gratitude or how nice you are or how many favors you have to offer. It's about selling yourself as someone who'll make them look good for supporting you. That's how you talk to donors. There's a whole language to it, but in the end, they just want a little prestige with their charity.”

CharityCommodityFake Niceness
Book:We Weren't Looking to Be Found
Create image

“A lot of guys are very intimidated by an attractive woman, and they dehumanise her because our culture perceives beautiful women as commodities. But I think if you're able walk up to a person and get to know them, and you see their flaws and their impurities, and realise that they're like you, then you can humanise them again.”

IfsThinkingKnowsPersonsAbleBeautifulGuyCultureWalksLike YouPerceiveAttractiveFlawsRealisingCommodityBeautiful WomenIntimidatedImpurityAttractive Woman
Author:Neil Strauss
Create image