“A division of things is by the law of nations. Nevertheless, by the common consent it may, upon just grounds, be somewhere enacted that almost all possessions should be in common.” – William Ames, “Conscience” (in A. S. P. Woodhouse, Puritanism & Liberty)
Category: Economics
“To widen the market and to narrow the competition, is always the interest of the dealers. To widen the market may frequently be agreeable enough to the interest of the public; but to narrow the competition must always be against it, and can serve only to enable the dealers, by raising their profits above what they naturally would be, to levy, for their own benefit, an absurd tax upon the rest of their fellow-citizens. The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same as that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.” – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“Of all the productions of land, milk is perhaps the most perishable. In the warm season, when it is most abundant, it will scarce keep four-and-twenty hours. The farmer, by making it into fresh butter, stores a small part of it for a week: by making it into salt butter, for a year: and by making it into cheese, he stores a much greater part of it for several years.” – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“Any man that makes a bargain, and does find afterwards ’tis for the worse, yet is bound to stand to it.” – Henry Ireton, “Putney Debates” (in A. S. P. Woodhouse, Puritanism & Liberty)
“A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 4.3
“The poor advanc’d makes friends of enemies. And hitherto doth love on fortune tend: for who not needs shall never lack a friend.” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 3.2
“Bless’d are those whose blood and judgment are so well commingled that they are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger to sound what stop she please.” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 3.2
“There’s no political posture that overrides the need to eat.” – Alicia Kennedy, “On Tradwives”
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be: for loan oft loses both itself and friend; and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 1.3
“To have seen much, and to have nothing, is to have rich eyes and poor hands.” – William Shakespeare, As You Like It 4.1
“I am a true labourer; I earn that I eat, get that I wear; owe no man hate, envy no man’s happiness; glad of other men’s good, content with my harm.” – William Shakespeare, As You Like It 3.2
“He that wants money, means, and content, is without three good friends.” – William Shakespeare, As You Like It 3.2
“Nothing stokes human creativity like the desire to kill a motherfucker you don’t like.” – The Fat Electrician, “America’s Secret Weapon That Won WW2 – VT Fuze”
“How full of briers is this working-day world!” – William Shakespeare, As You Like It 1.3
“With the greater part of rich people, the chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches, which in their eye is never so complete as when they appear to possess those decisive marks of opulence which nobody can possess but themselves. In their eyes the merit of an object which is in any degree either useful or beautiful, is greatly enhance by its scarcity, or by the great labour which it requires to collect any considerable quantity of it, a labour which nobody can afford to pay but themselves. Such objects they are willing to purchase at a higher price than things much more beautiful and useful, but more common.”– Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“Human food seems to be the only produce of land which always and necessarily affords some rent to the landlord.” – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“A good rice field is a bog at all seasons, and at one season a bog covered with water.” – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“The vine is more affected by the difference of soils than any other fruit tree. From some it derives a flavour which no culture or management can equal, it is supposed, upon any other. This flavour, real or imaginary, is sometimes peculiar to the produce of a few vineyards; sometimes it extends through the greater part of a small district, and sometimes through a considerable part of a large province.” – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expence of carriage, put the remote parts of the county more nearly upon a level with those in the neighbourhood of the town. They are upon that account the greatest of all improvements.” – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“As men, like all other animals, naturally multiply in proportion to their means of subsistence, food is always, more or less, in demand.” – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“Before the invention of the art of printing, a scholar and a beggar seem to have been terms very nearly synonymous.” – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“The property which every man has in his own labour, as it is the original foundation of all other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable. The patrimony of a poor man lies in the strength and dexterity of his hands; and to hinder him from employing this strength and dexterity in what manner he thinks proper without injury to his neighbour, is a plain violation of this most sacred property. It is a manifest encroachment upon the just liberty both of the workman, and of those who might be disposed to employ him. As it hinders the one from working at what he thinks proper, so it hinders the others from employing who they think proper. To judge whether he is fit to be employed, may surely be trusted to the discretion of the employers whose interest it so much concerns. The affected anxiety of the law-giver lest they should employ an improper person, is evidently as impertinent as it is oppressive.” – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“In opulent countries the market is generally so extensive, that any one trade is sufficient to employ the whole labour and stock of those who occupy it. Instances of people’s living by one employment, and at the same time deriving some little advantage from another, occur chiefly in poor countries.” – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. One
“The famous have an exclusive legal right during life to control and profit from the commercial use of their name and personality.” – Circuit Judge Merritt, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Memphis Development Foundation v. Factors Etc., Inc., 616 F.2d 956 (1980)
“The gist of this claim is that Carson is embarrassed by and considers it odious to be associated with the appellee’s product. Clearly, the association does not appeal to Carson’s sense of humor.” – Senior Circuit Judge Bailey Brown, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Carson v. Here’s Johnny Portable Toilets, Inc., 698 F.2d 831 (1983).
“An essential element of individual property is the legal right to exclude others from enjoying it. If the property is private, the right of exclusion may be absolute; if the property is affected with a public interest, the right of exclusion is qualified. But the fact that a product of the mind has cost its producer money and labor, and has a value for which others are willing to pay, is not sufficient to ensure to it this legal attribute of property. The general rule of law is, that the noblest of human productions—knowledge, truths ascertained, conceptions, and ideas—become, after voluntary communication to others, free as the air to common use. Upon these incorporeal productions the attribute of property is continued after such communication only in certain classes of cases where public policy has seemed to demand it. These exceptions are confined to productions which, in some degree, involve creation, invention, or discovery. But by no means all such are endowed with this attribute of property. The creations which are recognized as property by the common law are literary, dramatic, musical, and other artistic creations; and these have also protection under the copyright statutes. The inventions and discoveries upon which this attribute of property is conferred only by statute, are the few comprised within the patent law.” – Justice Brandeis, Supreme Court of the United States, International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215 (1918).
“Property, a creation of law, does not arise from value . . . . Property depends upon exclusion by law from interference.” – Justice Holmes, Supreme Court of the United States, International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215 (1918).
“The right of the purchaser of a single newspaper to spread knowledge of its contents gratuitously, for any legitimate purpose not unreasonably interfering with complainant’s right to make merchandise of it, may be admitted; but to transmit that news for commercial use, in competition with complainant—which is what defendant has done and seeks to justify—is a very different matter.” – Justice Pitney, Supreme Court of the United States, International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215 (1918).
“The peculiar value of news is in the spreading of it while it is fresh; and it is evident that a valuable property interest in the news, as news, cannot be maintained by keeping it secret.” – Justice Pitney, Supreme Court of the United States, International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215 (1918).
“The news element—the information respecting current events contained in the literary production—is not the creation of the writer, but is a report of matters that ordinarily are publici juris; it is the history of the day. It is not to be supposed that the framers of the Constitution, when they empowered Congress ‘to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries’ (Const. art. 1, § 8, par. 8), intended to confer upon one who might happen to be the first to report a historic event the exclusive right for any period to spread the knowledge of it.” – Justice Pitney, Supreme Court of the United States, International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215 (1918).