Swiss Made Quotes

“Who would argue against the simple Swiss moral formula that effort and enterprise should lead to reward, and indulgence and laziness should be shunned? Or against the old adage of ‘living within your means’? This may sound like a cliché, but it is rapidly taking on political sig[1]nificance as governments increasingly choose to live at the expense of future generations. Why can’t teachers be well paid and revered in other societies? Is greater self-reliance better than greater redistribution? Is less government better than more? Are there advantages in deciding issues rather than choosing politicians? Behind these questions are observations that go to the heart of the Swiss system and are available for any nation to consider or benchmark itself against.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“What constitutes a brand? There are several aspects. First, it is a promise, or at least a belief. Customers cannot test every product that they buy, so they draw on their own past experience or on the recommendations of others. Through consistent and reliable experience achieved over a long period of time, trust in the promise is created. Trust reduces complexity and shortens buyers’ deci[1]sions. Often decisions are based not on specific attributes but on the holistic emotions that a product engenders. Young men do not buy expensive Swiss watches because they tell the time better, but because they appeal to their aspi[1]rations. A brand must differentiate itself against the plethora of so-called ‘me too’ alternatives. Against these measures, ‘Swissness’ has become a brand in its own right – and this may be the country’s most precious and enduring comparative advantage.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“The Swiss were like peasants who went to the market shopping for a ‘social contract’ as though they were trying to buy the cheapest cabbage available. They gave up the least freedom in exchange for the least government”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“Previously people worked only to get by and if there was a surplus at the end of their lives it was given to the Catholic Church so there was little need to accumulate wealth and little need for banks. The Protestant Reformation decreed for the first time that the accumulation of wealth was acceptable and a positive sign of hard work and the fulfilment of one’s duty.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“With the increasing intrusiveness of the internet, the only privacy we can protect is what is in our pockets and what is in our minds.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“Decay occurs when changing circumstances outpace human systems’ ability to cope them.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“Johann Pestalozzi, a Swiss education reformer, once described teachers as ‘God’s chosen profession’. Teachers are well paid and revered in Swiss society.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“Unlike the top-down American, British, Chinese, and French, German, the Swiss are a bottom-up society.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“The Swiss are known for caution and place great store in predictability, perhaps due to their roots in the mountains where life has always served up many contingencies.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“Potent thinkers such as Einstein, Erasmus, Lenin, and Rousseau lived in Switzerland, but their views and talents were not especially appreciated. As in other countries, they are regarded with suspicion unless and until they prove their worth. But the opportunity has always been there.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“Switzerland is the closest to what Aristotle, Plato and Socrates had in mind when democracy was conceived. Americans proudly recite Lincoln’s famous democratic battle cry: ‘Government for the people, by the people and of the people, - but in fact this is a better description of the Swiss model.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“The “where-to-be-born” index, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, claims Switzerland is the best country to be born in. For good reasons. The country is ranked second in global competitiveness, first in patent filings per person, second in human development and first in trust in government. It does this with the seventh-highest share of renewable energy as a percentage of total energy.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland s Success

“The absence of coal drove Switzerland’s early industrial pioneers to seek alternative power sources, and helped the country later to avoid two of capitalism’s greatest nemeses: organised labour and pollution. Where there are mountains there is water, and Switzerland has both in abundance. The Alps capture water and accelerate its movement through countless arteries radiating from its highest points. Almost everywhere, from Aabach in the Zurich Oberland to the Rhine Falls near Neuhausen or”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success

“The absence of coal drove Switzerland’s early industrial pioneers to seek alternative power sources, and helped the country later to avoid two of capitalism’s greatest nemeses: organised labour and pollution. Where”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success

“measure twice and cut once.) Fourth,”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success

“There are around 740 medical technology manufacturers in Switzerland,”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success

“Colombo (in what is now Sri Lanka),”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success

“only from their achievement can they earn respect.”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success

“the only way to climb the social ladder is through achievement,”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success

“Where the river flows, trade flows Basel”
― R. James Breiding, Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success