Jean-Baptiste Say Quotes

It is the aim of good government to stimulate production, of bad government to encourage consumption.

The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.

Supply creates its own demand.

The manner in which things exist and take place, constitutes what is called the nature of things; and a careful observation of the nature of things is the sole foundation of all truth.

What can we expect from nations still less advanced in civilization than the Greeks?

One product is always ultimately bought with another, even when paid for in the first instance with money.

Nothing can be more idle than the opposition of theory to practice!

The best scheme of finance is, to spend as little as possible; and the best tax is always the lightest.

The difficulty lies, not in finding a producer, but in finding a consumer.

I have made no distinction between the circulation of goods and of money, because there really is none.

Nothing is more dangerous in practice, than an obstinate, unbending adherence to a system, particularly in its application to the wants and errors of mankind.

Demand and supply are the opposite extremes of the beam, whence depend the scales of dearness and cheapness; the price is the point of equilibrium, where the momentum of the one ceases, and that of the other begins.

Alas, how many have been persecuted for the wrong of having been right?

Opulent, civilized, and industrious nations, are greater consumers than poor ones, because they are infinitely greater producers.

Every individual, from the common mechanic, that works in wood or clay, to the prime minister that regulates with the dash of his pen the agriculture, the breeding of cattle, the mining, or the commerce of a nation, will perform his business the better, the better he understands the nature of things,and the more his understanding is enlightened.

And let no government imagine, that, to strip them of the power of defrauding their subjects, is to deprive them of a valuable privilege. A system of swindling can never be long lived, and must infallibly in the end produce much more loss than profit.

Whence it is evident that the remedy must be adapted to the particular cause of the mischief; consequently, the cause must be ascertained, before the remedy is devised.

The love of domination never attains more than a factitious elevation, that is sure to make enemies of all its neighbours.

When a tree, a natural product, is felled, is society put into possession of no greater produce than that of the mere labour of the woodman?

All those who, since Adam Smith, have turned their attention to Political Economy, agree that in reality we do not buy articles of consumption with money, the circulating medium with which we pay for them. We must in the first instance have bought this money itself by the sale of our produce.

A tax can never be favorable to the public welfare, except by the good use that is made of its proceeds.

Capital can seldom be made productive, without undergoing several changes both of form and of place, the risk of which is always more or less alarming to persons unaccustomed to the operations of industry; whereas, on the contrary, landed property produces without any change of either quality or position.

A treasure does not always contribute to the political security of its possessors. It rather invites attack, and very seldom is faithfully applied to the purpose for which it was destined.

A science only advances with certainty, when the plan of inquiry and the object of our researches have been clearly defined; otherwise a small number of truths are loosely laid hold of, without their connexion being perceived, and numerous errors, without being enabled to detect their fallacy.

In times of political confusion, and under an arbitrary government, many will prefer to keep their capital inactive, concealed, and unproductive, either of profit or gratification, rather than run the risk of its display. This latter evil is never felt under a good government.