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Economics Quotes

Browse 2895 quotes about Economics.

Economics Quotes

“Man is a perpetually wanting animal.”

Men Animal Economics

Book:On Dominance, Self-Esteem, and Self-Actualization

Source: On Dominance, Self-Esteem, and Self-Actualization

“Men, like animals, naturally multiply in proportion to the means of their subsistence.”

Men Mean Animal Economics Proportion Subsistence

Book:An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations

Source: An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations

“Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.”

“The propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another is common to all men, and to be found in no other race of animals.”

Men Found Animal Common Business Race One Thing Economics Finance Apathy Truck Propensity Bartering

Book:An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations

Source: An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations

“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.”

Men Reason Law Animal Levels Economic Depends Economics Instinct Intuition Tragic Inherent Tobacco Farce Economy And Economics

Book:Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself

Source: Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself

“Without an acquaintance with chemistry, the statesman must remain a stranger to the true vital interests of the state, to the means of its organic development and improvement; ... The highest economic or material interests of a country, the increased and more profitable production of food for man and animals, ... are most closely linked with the advancement and diffusion of the natural sciences, especially of chemistry.”

Source: Familiar Letters on Chemistry, in its relation to Physiology, Dietetics, Agriculture, Commerce and Political Economy: Edited by John Blyth

“Darwin's greatest achievement was to show that the appearance of purpose, planning, teleology (design), and intentionality in the origin and development of human and animal species was entirely an illusion. The illusion could be explained by evolutionary processes that contained no such purpose at all. But the spread of ideas through imitation required the whole apparatus of human consciousness and intentionality”

“Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as the result of animal spirits-a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities.”

Action Spirit Decision Animal Results Taken Benefits Consequence Economics Average Outcomes Urges Spontaneous Probability Inaction Days To Come Animal Spirits

Author:John Maynard Keynes

“Cultural diversity and cultural change are desirable and inevitable. We are cultural animals, someone without a culture is not human. But the cultures we possess vary enormously. Indeed, the variability, over time and space is the great evolutionary advantage of humanity. Instead of changing biologically over millennia, human beings can change culturally over decades”

Humans Humanity Culture Human Beings Space Animal Diversity Advantage Economics Decades Inevitable Desirable Time And Space Vary Cultural Diversity Cultural Change Variability

Author:Martin Wolf

“"It is essential to understand this point thoroughly: that the thing-in-itself, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, is not only unknowable-it does not exist. This is important not only for sanity and peace of mind, but also for the most "practical" reasons of economics, politics, and technology.. This is not to say only that things exist in relation to one another, but that what we call "things" are no more than glimpses of a unified process. Certainly, this process has distinct features which catch our attention, but we must remember that distinction is not separation."”

“One of the anomalies of modern ecology is the creation of two groups, each of which seems barely aware of the existence of the other. The one studies the human community, almost as if it were a separate entity, and calls its findings sociology, economics and history. The other studies the plant and animal community and comfortably relegates the hodge-podge of politics to the liberal arts. The inevitable fusion of these two lines of thought will, perhaps, constitute the outstanding advance of this century.”

Source: Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)