62 Quotes by Jean-Baptiste Say

It is doubtless very desirable, that private persons should have a correct knowledge of their personal interests; but it must be infinitely more so, that governments should possess that knowledge.

The government has, in all countries, a vast influence, in determining the character of the national consumption; not only because it absolutely directs the consumption of the state itself, but because a great proportion of the consumption of individuals is gained by its will and example.

With respect to the present time, there are few persons who unite the qualifications of good observers with a situation favourable for accurate observation.

It is a melancholy but an undoubted fact, that, even in the most thriving countries, part of the population annually dies of mere want. Not that all who perish from want absolutely die of hunger; though this calamity is of more frequent occurrence than is generally supposed.

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

An uniformity of weights and measures, arranged upon mathematical principles, would be a benefit to the whole commercial world, if it were wise enough to adopt such an expedient.

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?

Political economy has only become a science since it has been confined to the results of inductive investigation.