Economics Society Quotes

“Only a psychopath would ever think of doing these things, only a psychopath would dream of abusing other people in such a way, only a psychopath would treat people as less than human just for money. The shocking truth is, even though they now have most if not all of the money, they want still more, they want all of the money that you have left in your pockets, they want it all because they have no empathy with other people, with other creatures, they have no feeling for the world which they exploit, they have no love or sense of being or belonging for their souls are dead, dead to all things but greed and a desire to rule over others.”
― Arun D. Ellis, Corpalism

“Institutionalized rejection of difference is an absolute necessity in a profit economy which needs outsiders as surplus people.”
― Audre Lorde

“The mistake you make, don't you see,is in thinking one can live in a corrupt society without being corrupt oneself. After all, what do you achieve by refusing to make money? You're trying to behave as though one could stand right outside our economic system. But one can't. One's got to change the system, or one changes nothing. One can't put things right in a hole-and-corner way, if you take my meaning.”
― George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying

“History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.”
― Bhim Rao Ambedkar

“Civilizations have always been pyramidal in structure. As one climbs toward the apex of the social edifice, there is increased leisure and increasing opportunity to pursue hapiness. As one climbs, one finds also fewer and fewer people to enjoy this more and more. Invariably, there is a preponderance of the dispossessed. And remember this, no matter how well off the bottom layers of the pyramid might be on an absolute scale, they are always dispossessed in comparison with the apex.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Naked Sun

“Oil may run out, liquidity may dry up, but as long as ink flows freely, the next chapter of Life will continue to be written.”
― Alex Morritt, Impromptu Scribe

“This civilization is rapidly passing away, however. Let us rejoice or else lament the fact as much as everyone of us likes; but do not let us shut our eyes to it.”
― Joseph Aloïs Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

“Nadie ha visto nunca a un perro hacer un intercambio justo y deliberado de un hueso por otro con otro perro. Nadie ha visto a un animal que, con gestos y sonidos naturales, indique a otro: esto es mío y esto es tuyo; estoy dispuesto a darte esto a cambio de eso”
― Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Volume I

“And that's the real reason the powerful fear open systems and networks. If anyone can set up a free voicecall to anyone else in the world, using the net, then we can all communicate with the same ease that's standard for the high and mighty. [...]

And if any worker, anywhere, can communicate with any other worker, anywhere, for free, instantaneously, without the boss's permission, then, brother, look out, because the Coase cost of demanding better pay, better working conditions and a slice of the pie just got a *lot* cheaper. And the people who have the power aren't going to sit still and let a bunch of grunts take it away from them.”
― Cory Doctorow, For the Win

“Civilization on Earth planet was equated with selfishness and greed; those people who lived in a civilized state exploited those who did not. There were shortages of vital commodities on Earth planet, and the people in the civilized nations were able to monopolize those commodities by reason of their greater economic strength. This imbalance appeared to be at the root of the
disputes.”
― Christopher Priest, The Inverted World

“We all know that 97% of the money in the world doesn't exist and that's thanks to Fractional Reserve Banking, or should I say fictional reserve banking." He grinned at his own joke, his smile partly hidden by his hair, "Money is no longer attached to the Gold Standard, therefore, it isn't based on anything. So when it says, 'I promise to pay the bearer on demand ten pounds,' I have to ask, ten pounds of what?" Silence. "The world is owned by the rich shareholder, the rich superstar, the rich industrialist, the rich aristocracy." He was now marching around the stage, "It doesn't matter who or what they are, if they're rich then they own a part of the world, but they only own it because they've got lots of money. Which means they own part of the 97% of the world’s fictional money, the pretend money that only exists on a computer." He stopped abruptly and stared out at the audience, "Which means that if they cashed in their fictional nonexistent money they'd get something like this ten pound note offering to pay the bearer the sum of ten pounds of nothing." He held the note aloft, "Which means the rich have managed to buy the entire world with paper nothing that has a value of nothing and we've let them do it.”
― Arun D. Ellis, Daydream Believers

“28. It is a capital evil with respect to the question We are discussing to take for granted that the one class of society is of itself hostile to the other, as if nature had set rich and poor against each other to fight fiercely in implacable war. This is so abhorrent to reason and truth that the exact opposite is true; for just as in the human body the different members harmonize with one another, whence arises that disposition of parts and proportion in the human figure rightly called symmetry, so likewise nature has commanded in the case of the State that the two classes mentioned should agree harmoniously and should properly form equally balanced counterparts to each other.”
― Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum: Encyclical Letter - Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour

“الفقير الذي لا يحمل شهرة بيل جيتس و لا أوراق بنيامين فرانكلين المزركشة ولا حفنة ملوك أوروبا من الذهب المكدس، يعيش في سلام داخلي و يموت في سلام مع الناس.”
― محمد الكتبي

“بعد موت النبي آدم تفرق أبناءه لشعوب كثيرة، وانحرفت عن المنهج السماوي الذي وضعه الله لها، إما بالعصيان وأن النسيان، وبالتالي أرسل الله لهم من يعد البشرية الي مسارها الصحيح، وكان الحدث بنبوة ادريس، فقد هاجر من العراق الي مصر واتخذها حصناً له ولدعوته فبنى المدن وكرس حياته لنشر العلوم، فهنا لوتحدثنا عن منهجه في الحرب، والعلم بها وتجهيز الناس لها من مأكل مشرب، فهنا استوجب أن يتبع منهج أو يتخذ من الهدى الالهي البداية في فكر اقتصادي أو تطويع أوامر الله لهذا الامر.
فنبوة ادريس هو تصويب لحياة الانسان وترشيد لموارده وتحييد سلوكه من المفرط المسرف إلي المرشّد المقتصد كما جاء في قوله تعالى "ومنهم مقتصد".”
― محمد الكتبي

“We begin with an infinite debt to something called "Society".”
― Debt The First 5 000 Years by David Graeber

“It [economics] facilitates our understanding of the well-being of societies and the challenges they face; it explains many of the daily interactions between individuals, companies and governments, and it offers a guide to understanding political and social trends that are shaping our world.”
― Greg Ip, The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World

“The impact of the internet on economic development is shifting in two important directions. First, given the aging population and near-saturated market penetration in the advanced economies, most of the expansion of the internet related market will take place in developing countries like Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. Secondly, the globalization of the internet is expected to increase the share of developing countries in the internet economy presenting a historic opportunity for the young and poor in Pakistan to improve their economic condition.”
― Arzak Khan

“Capital requires the separation of the worker from the means of production and subsistence”
― Peter Linebaugh, William Morris: Romantic to revolutionary

“If we do not fix education in Africa, we are heading for monumental economic disaster.”
― Mmanti Umoh

“If your economy requires people to consume things they don't need or even want, and to do more of it each year than the year before, just in order to keep the whole edifice from collapsing, then you need a different economy”
― Jason Hickel