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Jean-Baptiste Say Quotes (1767-1832)
About Jean-Baptiste Say
Jean-Baptiste Say (5 January 1767 – 15 November 1832) was a French economist and businessman. He was said to have held classically liberal views. He is most remembered today for Say's Law.
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Jean-Baptiste Say quotes.
“Nothing can be more idle than the opposition of theory to practice!”
“Still how unenlightened and ignorant are the very nations we term civilized!”
“What can we expect from nations still less advanced in civilization than the Greeks?”
“The difficulty lies, not in finding a producer, but in finding a consumer.”
“The sea and wind can at the same time convey my neighbour's vessel and my own.”
“I have made no distinction between the circulation of goods and of money, because there really is none.”
“One product is always ultimately bought with another, even when paid for in the first instance with money.”
“ Capital in the hands of a national government forms a part of the gross national capital.”
“Political economy has only become a science since it has been confined to the results of inductive investigation.”
“" capital cannot be more beneficially employed, then in strengthening and aiding the productive powers of nature."”
“ But, is it possible for princes and ministers to be enlightened, when private individuals are not so?”
“How many other opinions, as universally prevailing and as much respected, will in like manner pass away?”
“Opulent, civilized, and industrious nations, are greater consumers than poor ones, because they are infinitely greater producers.”
“The United States will have the honour of proving experimentally, that true policy goes hand in hand with moderation and humanity.”
“What is the motive which operates in every man's breast to counteract the impulse towards the gratification of his wants and appetites?”
“The most effectual encouragement to population is, the activity of industry, and the consequent multiplication of the national products.”
“The love of domination never attains more than a factitious elevation, that is sure to make enemies of all its neighbours.”
“When a tree, a natural product, is felled, is society put into possession of no greater produce than that of the mere labour of the woodman?”
Jean-Baptiste Say Quotes by Topic
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Jean-Baptiste Say on Division of labor 2 quotes
“The celebrated Adam Smith was the first to point out the immense increase of production, and the superior perfection of products referable to this division of labour.”
Jean-Baptiste Say on Utility 2 quotes
“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.”
Jean-Baptiste Say on Finance
Jean-Baptiste Say on Political economy
“Political economy has only become a science since it has been confined to the results of inductive investigation.”
Jean-Baptiste Say on Gratification
“What is the motive which operates in every man's breast to counteract the impulse towards the gratification of his wants and appetites?”
Jean-Baptiste Say on Arithmetic
“Some writers maintain arithmetic to be only the only sure guide in political economy; for my part, I see so many detestable systems built upon arithmetical statements, that I am rather inclined to regard that science as the instrument of national calamity.”
Jean-Baptiste Say on Landed property
“Capital can seldom be made productive, without undergoing several changes both of form and of place, the risk of which is always more or less alarming to persons unaccustomed to the operations of industry; whereas, on the contrary, landed property produces without any change of either quality or position.”
What Jean-Baptiste Say Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Jean-Baptiste Say shared regarding contemporaries.
Jean-Baptiste Say on Thomas Robert Malthus
“The most effectual encouragement to population is, the activity of industry, and the consequent multiplication of the national products.”
Jean-Baptiste Say on David Ricardo
“It is, perhaps, a well founded objection to Mr. Ricardo, that he sometimes reasons upon abstract principles to which he gives too great a generalization.”
About Jean-Baptiste Say
Jean-Baptiste Say (5 January 1767 – 15 November 1832) was a French economist and businessman. He was said to have held classically liberal views. He is most remembered today for Say's Law.