Link Copied!
Vilfredo Pareto Quotes (1848-1923)
Philosopher
About Vilfredo Pareto
Vilfredo Pareto (July 15 1848 β August 19 1923) was an Italian engineer, sociologist, economist, and philosopher, who contributed greatly to turning economics into a data-based science.
Best Vilfredo Pareto Quotes
Shortest
Earliest
Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Vilfredo Pareto quotes.
βWhen it is useful to them, men can believe a theory of which they know nothing more than its name.β
βFor a very long time, and among a large number of peoples, political power has belonged to the owners of the land.β
βEmpirical laws ... have only slight or even no value beyond the limits within which they have been observed to be true.β
βUsually, so far as improvement in the people's economic conditions is concerned, humanitarians simply play the role of the busybody.β
βAmong civilized peoples, especially the very wealthy population of the United States of America, women have become objects of luxury who consume but do not produce.β
βIt is a known fact that almost all revolutions have been the work, not of the common people, but of the aristocracy, and especially of the decayed part of the aristocracy.β
βSociety is not homogeneous, and those who do not deliberately close their eyes have to recognize that men differ greatly from one another from the physical, moral, and intellectual viewpoints.β
βIncrease in the wealth per capita fosters democracy; but the latter, at least according to what we have been able to observe up to now, entails great destruction of wealth and even eventually dries up the sources of it. Hence it is its own grave-digger, it destroys what gave it birth.β
βThe economic and social theories used by those who take part in the social struggle ought to be judged not by their objective value but primarily for their effectiveness in arousing emotions. The scientific refutation of them which can be made is useless, however correct it may be objectively.β
βAssume that the new elite were clearly and simply to proclaim its intentions which are to supplant the old elite; no one would come to its assistance, it would be defeated before having fought a battle. On the contrary, it appears to be asking nothing for itself, well knowing that without asking anything in advance it will obtain what it wants as a consequence of its victory.β
βMen follow their sentiments and their self-interest, but it pleases them to imagine that they follow reason. And so they look for, and always find, some theory which, a posteriori, makes their actions appear to be logical. If that theory could be demolished scientifically, the only result would be that another theory would be substituted for the first one, and for the same purpose.β
Vilfredo Pareto Quotes by Topic
Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Vilfredo Pareto quotes by topic.
Vilfredo Pareto on Political economy
βAssume that the new elite were clearly and simply to proclaim its intentions which are to supplant the old elite; no one would come to its assistance, it would be defeated before having fought a battle. On the contrary, it appears to be asking nothing for itself, well knowing that without asking anything in advance it will obtain what it wants as a consequence of its victory.β
Vilfredo Pareto on Eugenics
βAristocracies do not lastβ¦ Where, in France, are the descendants of the Frankish conquerors? The genealogies of the English nobility have been very exactly kept; and they show that very few families still remain to claim descent from the comrades of William the Conqueror. The rest have vanished... They decay not in numbers only. They decay also in quality, in the sense that they lose their vigorβ¦The governing class is restored not only in numbers, butβand that is the more important thingβin quality, by families rising from the lower classesβ¦ If human aristocracies were like thorough-breds among animals, which reproduce themselves over long periods of time with approximately the same traits, the history of the human race would be something altogether different from the history we know.β
About Vilfredo Pareto
Vilfredo Pareto (July 15 1848 β August 19 1923) was an Italian engineer, sociologist, economist, and philosopher, who contributed greatly to turning economics into a data-based science.