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.

The fortune which nobody sees makes a person happy and unenvied.

The fortune which nobody sees makes a person happy and unenvied.

The IRS spends God knows how much of your tax money on these toll-free information hot lines staffed by IRS read more

The IRS spends God knows how much of your tax money on these toll-free information hot lines staffed by IRS employees, whose idea of a dynamite tax tip is that you should print neatly. If you ask them a real tax question, such as how you can cheat, they're useless. So, for guidance, you want to look to big business. Big business never pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes...

All people, however fanatical they may be in their zeal to disparage and to fight capitalism, implicitly pay homage to read more

All people, however fanatical they may be in their zeal to disparage and to fight capitalism, implicitly pay homage to it by passionately clamoring for the products it turns out.

Make sure you want it enough.

Make sure you want it enough.

If you can run one business well, you can run any business well.

If you can run one business well, you can run any business well.

Every era has a currency that buys souls. In some the currency is pride, in others it is hope, in read more

Every era has a currency that buys souls. In some the currency is pride, in others it is hope, in still others it is a holy cause. There are of course times when hard cash will buy souls, and the remarkable thing is that such times are marked by civility, tolerance, and the smooth working of everyday life.

Our job is not to set things right but to see them right.

Our job is not to set things right but to see them right.

What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.

What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.