Economic Philosophy Quotes

“Poverty was nature surviving in society; that the limitedness of food and the unlimitedness of men had come to an issue just when the promise of boundless increase of wealth burst in upon us made the irony only the more bitter.”
― Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time

“To attempt to increase the wealth of any country, either by introducing or by detaining in it an unnecessary quantity of gold and silver, is as absurd as it would be to attempt to increase the good cheer of private families by obliging them to keep an unnecessary number of kitchen utensils.”
― Adam Smith

“Permaculture Economics includes Capitalism but it’s bigger than Capitalism.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, Principles of a Permaculture Economy

“We need not be surprised at this. On a wrong road, inconsistency is inevitable; if it were not so, mankind would be sacrificed. A false principle never has been, and never will be, carried out to the end.”
― Frédéric Bastiat, That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen: The Unintended Consequences of Government Spending

“But things have been so admirably arranged by the Divine inventor of social order that in this, as in everything else, political economy and morality, far from clashing, agree; and the wisdom of Aristus is not only more dignified, but still more profitable, than the folly of Mondor. And when I say profitable, I do not mean only profitable to Aristus, or even to society in general, but more profitable to the workmen themselves—to the trade of the time.”
― Frédéric Bastiat, That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen: The Unintended Consequences of Government Spending

“I can never look at these apparent contradictions between the great laws of nature without a feeling of physical uneasiness which amounts to suffering. Were mankind reduced to the necessity of choosing between two parties, one of whom injures his interest, and the other his conscience, we should have nothing to hope from the future. Happily, this is not the case; and to see Aristus regain his economical superiority, as well as his moral superiority, it is sufficient to understand this consoling maxim, which is no less true from having a paradoxical appearance, “To save is to spend.”
― Frédéric Bastiat, That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen: The Unintended Consequences of Government Spending

“[Aristotle] shows how currency serves as a measure...[I]f men always needed immediately the goods they have among themselves, they would have no need of any exchange except of thing for thing, e.g., wine for grain. But sometimes one man (who has a surplus of wine at present) does not need the grain that another man has (who is in need of wine), but perhaps later he will need the grain or some other product. In this way then for the necessity of future exchange, money or currency is, as it were, a surety that if a man has no present need but may want in the future, the thing he needs will be available when he presents the currency.”
― Thomas Aquinas

“In a world that still suffers from the lack of essentials, indulgence in luxury is human rights violation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Giants in Jeans: 100 Sonnets of United Earth

“We can have traders, without them being traitors.

We can trade, without trading others.

We can trade our traits, and not our worst ones, with others.

We can trade our traitors for better traders, or they can become better traders themselves.

Let the market trade this way.”
― Justin Kyle McFarlane Beau

“Il sistema bancario!" stava dicendo Mathis. "Che cos'è, se non usura? I banchieri sono strozzini; usurai. Ma siccome prestano soldi altrui, o soldi che non esistono, hanno un buon nome. Sono comunque usurai. Una volta, l'usura era un peccato mortale e una vergogna, e l'usuraio era un criminale che andava in prigione. Oggi, gli usurai sono gli dèi della terra, e l'unico peccato mortale è la povertà".”
― Eric Ambler

“The same rule of self-destructive financial calculation governs every walk of life. We destroy the beauty of the countryside because the un-appropriated splendors of nature have no economic value. We are capable of shutting off the sun and the stars because they do not pay a dividend.”
― John Maynard Keynes

“If you need to buy a cell and you have a thousand dollars for it, then instead of wasting the entire thousand dollars on one phone, use three hundred dollars for it, and with the rest buy some food and clothes from street vendors and distribute them among the homeless people in the block. This way you are not only buying a cellphone, but also empowering small businesses as well as helping the poor. And that’s the way to end economic disparities.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Ain't Enough to Look Human

“As long as custom and command ruled the world, the problem of riches and poverty hardly struck the earlier philosophers at all, other than to be accepted with a sigh or railed at as another sign of man's inner worthlessness.”
― Robert L. Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers

“Free production and Market could never retard its productivity by becoming too powerful for its own good. It could never do so because with a free Market, support becomes limited, and businesses either fail or become more productive; it would not allow a business to monopolize itself for longer than be needed for another business to become more successful.”
― Richy Valdes

“The market economy is not everything. It must find its place in a higher order of things which is not ruled by supply and demand, free prices, and competition. It must be firmly contained within an all-embracing order of society in which the imperfections of and harshness of economic freedom are corrected by law and in which man is not denied conditions of life appropriate to his nature.”
― Wilhelm Röpke, A Humane Economy: The Social Framework of the Free Market

“Buy less, buy local, to construct a sustainable economy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Giants in Jeans: 100 Sonnets of United Earth

“In a blind pursuit of endless revenue, we've confused inflation with civilization.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Giants in Jeans: 100 Sonnets of United Earth

“Buy less, buy local.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Giants in Jeans: 100 Sonnets of United Earth

“Trying to build a disparity-free economy pursuing revenue is like trying to achieve pregnancy through vasectomy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Ingan Impossible: Handbook of Hatebusting

“So long as greed drives the economy, it's not economy, but catastrophe.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Ingan Impossible: Handbook of Hatebusting

“Policy is to be guided by peace not purse, World is to be run by love not wallet.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Amor Apocalypse: Canım Sana İhtiyacım

“The glory may differ based on the kind of work a person does, but nobody should suffer to make ends meet while others fly in private jets.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None

“Economic growth doesn't mean the growth of disparity, it means the end of disparity. And we can never end disparity from our society unless we cut off all ties with luxury, preferably by individual accountability, if not, then by means of policy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None

“Himalayan Sonneteer Sonnet 81

If we treat people,
Like we treat currency,
That is the end of the world,
That is the end of society.
Currency is a social construct,
So, its value varies based on geography.
Humanity is the foundation of our existence,
How can we be human if we value people like currency!
North, South, East, West, humans are the best,
Mind not location, human life is worth just the same.
Appearance may differ across geography,
But our innate humanity is one and the same.
So I say, a nation's value lies not in its currency,
But its regard for the welfare of all humanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“The purpose of money is,
To keep mind and body together.
Not to separate the mind,
From society, from collective welfare.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Amor Apocalypse: Canım Sana İhtiyacım

“Economy that rewards selfishness, is but a glorified criminal offense.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Either Right or Human: 300 Limericks of Inclusion