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Utility Quotes

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Utility Quotes

“Economists tell us that the 'price' of an object and its 'value' have very little or nothing to do with one another. 'Value' is entirely subjective economic value, anyway while 'price' reflects whatever a buyer is willing to give up to get the object in question, and whatever the seller is willing to accept to give it up. Both are governed by the Law of Marginal Utility, which is actually a law of psychology, rather than economics. For government to attempt to dictate a 'fair price' betrays complete misunderstanding of the entire process.”

GivingLittlesGovernmentLawValuesProcessAcceptingPsychologyEconomicObjectsWillingGiving UpFairsEconomicsBetrayEconomistMisunderstandingSubjectiveUtilitySellersBuyersEconomic Value
Author:L. Neil Smith
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“No human being has the faculty of originally creating matter, which is more than nature itself can do. But any one may avail himself of the agents offered him by nature, to invest matter with utility.”

HumansMayMatterCan DoHuman BeingsCreatingAgentsFacultyUtility
Book:A Treatise on Political Economy; Or, The Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth
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“But concerning vision alone is a separate science formed among philosophers, namely, optics, and not concerning any other sense ... It is possible that some other science may be more useful, but no other science has so much sweetness and beauty of utility. Therefore it is the flower of the whole of philosophy and through it, and not without it, can the other sciences be known.”

MayPhilosophyWholeKnownVisionFlowerPhilosopherSweetnessUtilityOptics
Author:Roger Bacon
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“My first operating system project was to build a real-time system called RSX-11M that ran on Digital's PDP-11 16-bit series of minicomputers. ... a multitasking operating system that would run in 32 KB of memory with a hierarchical file system, application swapping, real-time scheduling, and a set of development utilities. The operating system and utilities were to run on the entire line of PDP-11 platforms, from the very small systems up through the PDP-11/70 which had memory-mapping hardware and supported up to 4 MB of memory.”

FirstsRealRunningBitsLinesMemoriesDevelopmentProjectsSeriesRanDigitalApplicationPlatformsFilesUtilityHardwareMultitaskingOperating SystemsMappingSchedulingSwapping
Author:Dave Cutler
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“Recovering from suffering is not like recovering from a disease. Many people don’t come out healed; they come out different. They crash through the logic of individual utility and behave paradoxically. Instead of recoiling from the sorts of loving commitments that almost always involve suffering, they throw themselves more deeply into them. Even while experiencing the worst and most lacerating consequences, some people double down on vulnerability. They hurl themselves deeper and gratefully into their art, loved ones and commitments.”

PeopleArtDifferentSufferingIndividualWorstDiseaseCommitmentConsequenceLogicDeeperBehaveVulnerabilityLoved OnesCrashUtilityHealedRecovering
Book:The Road to Character
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“If the knowledge of torture of others makes you sick, it is a case of sympathy... It can be argued that behaviour based on sympathy is in an important sense egoistic, for one is oneself pleased at others' pleasure and pained at others' pain, and the pursuit of one's own utility may thus be helped by sympathetic action.”

IfsMayImportantActionPainReligionPleasureCasesMoralitySickOneselfPursuitTortureBehaviourUtilitySympatheticPain And Pleasure
Book:Choice, Welfare and Measurement
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“Already renewable energy advocates are noting that the 42 miles of above-ground right-of-way between Yosemite and the city could be fitted with enough solar panels to generate at least 40 megawatts per year - a proposal the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has never seriously considered because they currently aren’t required to do so.”

WayYearsEnoughEnergyCitiesMilesSan FranciscoProposalUtilityRenewable EnergyYosemiteSolar Panels
Author:Matt Gonzalez
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“Ideal government would be a very boring job - it would be a matter of organizing a lot of utilities and keeping the wires together and the power plant and all that kind of stuff. It's not a matter of telling people how to live, it's a matter of making it pleasant for them to live. Government should be in the position of distributing food, stuff like that.”

PeopleShouldKindMatterGovernmentWould BeTogetherJobsStuffPositionIdealsPlantBoringPleasantWireUtilityPower Plants
Author:Grace Slick
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“Of all studies, the most delightful and the most useful is biography. The seeds of great events lie near the surface; historians delve too deep for them. No history was ever true. Lives I have read which, if they were not, had the appearance, the interest, and the utility of truth.”

IfsLyingInterestStudyEventsAppearanceSurfaceSeedsHistorianBiographiesDelightfulUtilityTrue LifeToo DeepGreat Events
Book:The works of Walter Savage Landor [ed. by J. Forster].
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“Never mind the use--do it!”

MindUseUtility
Book:The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., comprehending an account of his studies, and numerous works, in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons; and various original pieces of his composition, never before published; the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished
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“Money and electricity are much alike. Both are stored energy. Living amidst electricity, using it constantly, you take its presence and its utility for granted. Treated with respect, it is constructive, tireless. Treated with disrespect, it is destructive, vicious. It will light your way, pull a twelve-car train from Washington to New York in a bit more than four hours, kill you or burn your house alike. Electricity is insulated, though, and children are not permitted to play with it.”

WayChildrenPlayLightHouseEnergyBitsHoursMoneyFourCarNew YorkTrainTreatedGrantedDestructiveTwelveElectricityViciousUtilityConstructiveDisrespect
Book:Father Struck It Rich
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“Fascism, in so far as it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism - born of a renunciation of struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the people who have the courage to meet it.”

BelieveHumansWarMomentsFacesPoliticalHumanityEnergyBornStruggleSacrificePossibilityDevelopmentHighestDoctrineTensionConsiderationFascismCowardicePerpetualStampsNobilityUtilityHave CourageRenunciationPacifism
Author:Benito Mussolini
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“There is a vulgar persuasion, that the ignorance of women, by favoring their subordination, ensures their utility. 'Tis the same argument employed by the ruling few against the subject many in aristocracies; by the rich against the poor in democracies; by the learned professions against the people in all countries.”

PeopleCountryPoorDemocracyRichSubjectsIgnoranceArgumentProfessionPersuasionEmployedVulgarRulingUtilityAristocracyElitismSubordination
Book:Course of popular lectures as delivered by Frances Wright: with three addresses on various public occasions, and a reply to the charges against the French reformers of 1789. Second edition
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“The determination of the value of an item must not be based on its price, but rather on the utility it yields. The price of the item is dependent only on the thing itself and is equal for everyone; the utility, however, is dependent on the particular circumstances of the person making the estimate. Thus there is no doubt that a gain of one thousand ducats is more significant to a pauper than to a rich man though both gain the same amount.”

MenPersonsValuesMoneyRichDoubtParticularAmountCircumstancesThousandEqualGainsDeterminationSignificantNo DoubtDependentYieldItemsUtilityRich Man
Author:Daniel Bernoulli
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“People tend to be clueless about prices. Contrary to economic theory, we don't really decide between A and B by consulting our invisible price tags and purchasing the one that yields the higher utility, he says. We make do with guesstimates and a vague recollection of what things are “supposed to cost.””

PeopleEconomicTheoryHigherCostContraryInvisibleYieldVagueUtilityRecollectionTagConsultingCluelessPurchasingPrice TagEconomic Theory
Author:William Poundstone
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“The height and value of true virtue consists in the facility, utility, and pleasure of its exercise; so far from difficulty, that boys, as well as men, and the innocent as well as the subtle, may make it their own; and it is by order and good conduct, and not by force, that it is to be acquired.”

MenWellsMayValuesOrderForcePleasureBoysVirtueExerciseDifficultyInnocentHeightSubtleUtilityFacility
Book:Works, Comprising His Essays, Letters, and Journey Through Germany and Italy: With Notes from All the Commentators, Biographical and Bibliographical Notices &c., &c
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“The risk of an investment is described by both the probability and the potential amount of loss. The risk of an investment-the probability of an adverse outcome-is partly inherent in its very nature. A dollar spent on biotechnology research is a riskier investment than a dollar used to purchase utility equipment. The former has both a greater probability of loss and a greater percentage of the investment at stake.”

UsedLossGreaterRiskAmountResearchDollarsInvestmentInvestingFormerOutcomesStakesInherentEquipmentProbabilityPercentagesUtilityAdverseBiotechnology
Author:Seth Klarman
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“Feeling prosperous means paying your utility bills on time and with a smile on your face. Prosperity means not only giving to the homeless person, but having a smile on your face when you do it. Prosperity also means buying fresh produce with a smile on your face instead of buying day-old bread or bargain overripe fruit with a scowl on your face. Still more, being prosperous means tipping generously with a smile on your face when the waiter has given you great service instead of trying to stiff him with a mere percent, or worse, no tip at all.”

GivingTryingMeanPersonsStillsFeelingsFacesGivenProducePercentBillsMereFruitProsperityBreadBuyingYour FaceHomelessProsperousUtilityBargainsWaiterTippingGreat ServiceSmile On Your Face
Author:Ernie J Zelinski
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