Principles of Economics Quotes

“The most valuable of all capital is that invested in human beings”
― Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics

“The laws of economics are to be compared with the laws of the tides, rather than with the simple and exact law of gravitation. For the actions of men are so various and uncertain, that the best statement of tendencies, which we can make in a science of human conduct, must needs be inexact and faulty.”
― Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics

“There has always been a temptation to classify economic goods in clearly defined groups, about which a number of short and sharp propositions could be made, to gratify at once the student’s desire for logical precision, and the popular liking for dogmas that have the air of being profound and are yet easily handled. But great mischief seems to have been done by yielding to this temptation, and drawing broad artificial lines of division where Nature has made none. The more simple and absolute an economic doctrine is, the greater will be the confusion which it brings into attempts to apply economic doctrines to practice, if the dividing lines to which it refers cannot be found in real life. There is not in real life a clear line of division between things that are and are not Capital, or that are and are not Necessaries, or again between labour that is and is not Productive.”
― Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics

“The history of socialistic ventures, shows that ordinary men are seldom capable of pure ideal altruism for any considerable time together, and that the exceptions are to be found only when masterful fervour of a small band of religious enthusiasts makes material concerns to count for nothing in comparison with the higher faith.”
― Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics