I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth or shapes it into a garment will starve in the process." - Meaning and context.">
Speech in Rutland, Vermont (28 August 1891) as reported in The New York Times (29 August 1891), p. 5
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I cannot always sympathize with that demand which we hear so frequently for cheap things. Things may be too cheap. They are too cheap when the man or woman who produces them upon the farm or the man or woman who produces them in the factory does not get out of them living wages with a margin for old age and for a dowry for the incidents that are to follow. I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth or shapes it into a garment will starve in the process.

— Benjamin Harrison

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I cannot always sympathize with that demand which we hear so frequently for cheap things. Things may be too cheap. They are too cheap when the man or woman who produces them upon the farm or the man or woman who produces them in the factory does not get out of them living wages with a margin for old age and for a dowry for the incidents that are to follow. I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth or shapes it into a garment will starve in the process." in the context of "Speech in Rutland, Vermont (28 August 1891) as reported in The New York Times (29 August 1891), p. 5" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Benjamin Harrison" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Benjamin Harrison

About Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison (20 August 1833 – 13 March 1901) was the 23rd president of the United States (1889–1893); he was the grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison. Before ascending to the presidency, Harrison established himself as a prominent local attorney, Presbyterian church leader and politician in Indianapolis, Indiana. During the American Civil War, he served the Union as a colonel and on February 14, 1865 was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from January 23, 1865. After the war, he unsuccessfully ran for the governorship of Indiana. He was later elected to the U.S. Senate by the Indiana legislature.