Society and the World

The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.

A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it … gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it … gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

If you owe your bank a hundred pounds, you have a problem. But if you owe a million, it has.

If you owe your bank a hundred pounds, you have a problem. But if you owe a million, it has.

Just as a poetic discussion of the weather is not meteorology, so an issuance of moral pronouncements or political creeds about the economy is not economics. Economics is a study of cause-and-effect relationships in an economy.

Just as a poetic discussion of the weather is not meteorology, so an issuance of moral pronouncements or political creeds about the economy is not economics. Economics is a study of cause-and-effect relationships in an economy.

There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.

There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.

Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.

Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility.

Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility.

The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers.

The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers.

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.

I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life.

Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does.

A man of business may talk of philosophy; a man who has none may practise it.

A man of business may talk of philosophy; a man who has none may practise it.

The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.

The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.

Advertising is legalized lying.