Everyone has the brainpower to follow the stock market. If you made it through fifth-grade math, you can do it. read more

Everyone has the brainpower to follow the stock market. If you made it through fifth-grade math, you can do it. - "Modern Maturity Magazine, Jan/Feb 1995".

A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes that he has got read more

A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes that he has got the biggest piece.

The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.

The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.

Economics is a theoretical science and as such abstains from any judgement of value. It is not its task to read more

Economics is a theoretical science and as such abstains from any judgement of value. It is not its task to tell people what ends they should aim at. It is a science of the means to be applied for attainment of ends chosen, not, to be sure, a science of the choosing of ends. Ultimate decisions, the valuations and the choosing of ends, are beyond the scope of any science. Science never tells a man how he should act; it merely shows how a man must act if he wants to attain definite ends.

An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.

An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.

The creditor hath a better memory than the debtor.

The creditor hath a better memory than the debtor.

Value is not intrinsic; it is not in things. It is within us; it is the way in which man read more

Value is not intrinsic; it is not in things. It is within us; it is the way in which man reacts to the conditions of his environment.

Economics is first and foremost about the thoughts leading up to choice.

Economics is first and foremost about the thoughts leading up to choice.

The rich adopt novelties and become accustomed to their use. This sets a fashion which others imitate. Once the richer read more

The rich adopt novelties and become accustomed to their use. This sets a fashion which others imitate. Once the richer classes have adopted a certain way of living, producers have an incentive to improve the methods of manufacture so that soon it is possible for the poorer classes to follow suit. Thus luxury furthers progress. Innovation "is the whim of an elite before it becomes a need of the public. The luxury today is the necessity of tomorrow." Luxury is the roadmaker of progress: it develops latent needs and makes people discontented. In so far as they think consistently, moralists who condemn luxury must recommend the comparatively desireless existence of the wild life roaming in the woods as the ultimate ideal of civilized life.