Business is a means- the only means- to increase the quantity of goods available for preserving life and rendering it read more

Business is a means- the only means- to increase the quantity of goods available for preserving life and rendering it more agreeable.

Get me inside any boardroom and I'll get any decision I want.

Get me inside any boardroom and I'll get any decision I want.

Energetic action on debt would make a radical difference to the prospects of many of the poorest countries in the read more

Energetic action on debt would make a radical difference to the prospects of many of the poorest countries in the world, at no practical cost to creditor countries.

Money is something you got to make in case you don't die.

Money is something you got to make in case you don't die.

An economist's guess is liable to be as good as anybody else's.

An economist's guess is liable to be as good as anybody else's.

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.

This world is run with far too tight a rein for luck to interfere. Fortune sells her wares; she never read more

This world is run with far too tight a rein for luck to interfere. Fortune sells her wares; she never gives them. In some form or other, we pay for her favors; or we go empty away.

Managing directors are not paid to be busy, they are paid to think.

Managing directors are not paid to be busy, they are paid to think.

The morality of compromise' sounds contradictory. Compromise is usually a sign of weakness, or an admission of defeat. Strong men read more

The morality of compromise' sounds contradictory. Compromise is usually a sign of weakness, or an admission of defeat. Strong men don't compromise, it is said, and principles should never be compromised. I shall argue that strong men, conversely, know when to compromise and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater principle.