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Jean-Baptiste Say Quotes

Jean-Baptiste Say was a French economist and businessman who had classically liberal views and argued in favor of competition, free trade and lifting restraints on business. He is best known for Say's law, also known as the law of markets, which he popularized. Scholars disagree on the surprisingly subtle question of whether it was Say who first stated what we now call Say's law.

✵ 5. January 1767 – 15. November 1832
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Famous Jean-Baptiste Say Quotes

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

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter I, p. 391 (See also: Say's Law)

“If the community wish to have the benefit of more knowledge and intelligence in the labouring classes, it must dispense it at the public charge.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter VI, Section II, p. 436

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter VI, Section II, p. 432

“Labour, upon whichever of those operations it be bestowed, is productive, because it concurs in the creation of a product. Thus the labour of the philosopher, whether experimental or literary, is productive; the labour of the adventurer or master-manufacturer is productive, although he perform no actual manual work; the labour of every operative workman is productive, from the common day-labourer in agriculture, to the pilot that governs the motion of a ship.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter VII, p. 85

“What is the motive which operates in every man's breast to counteract the impulse towards the gratification of his wants and appetites?”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XIX, p. 207

“Wherefore it is impossible to succeed in comparing wealth of different eras or different nations. This, in political economy, like squaring the circle in mathematics, is impracticable, for want of a common mean or measure to go by.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XXI, Section VI, p. 244

Jean-Baptiste Say: Trending quotes

“Which leads us to a conclusion that may at first appear paradoxical, namely, that it is production which opens a demand for products.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XV, p. 133 (See also: Say's Law)
Context: A man who applies his labour to the investing of objects with value by the creation of utility of some sort, can not expect such a value to be appreciated and paid for, unless where other men have the means of purchasing it. Now, of what do these means consist? Of other values of other products, likewise the fruits of industry, capital, and land. Which leads us to a conclusion that may at first appear paradoxical, namely, that it is production which opens a demand for products.

“A system of swindling can never be long lived, and must infallibly in the end produce much more loss than profit.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XXI, Section V, p. 238
Context: 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.

“How many other opinions, as universally prevailing and as much respected, will in like manner pass away?”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. xlix

Jean-Baptiste Say Quotes

“The quantity of money, which is readily parted with to obtain a thing is called its price.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter I, p. 61

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

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter VIII, Section I, p. 449

“All travellers agree that protestant are both richer and more populous than catholic countries; and the reason is, because the habits of the former are more conducive to production.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter XI, Section I, p. 381 (See also: Max Weber)

“The wealthy are generally impressed with an idea, that they shall never stand in need of public charitable relief; but a little less confidence would become them better.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter VI, Section II, p. 439

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

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter IV, p. 399 (See also:Say's Law, Michał Kalecki, John Maynard Keynes)

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. xvii

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter IX, p. 487

“The encouragement of mere consumption is no benefit to commerce; for the difficulty lies in supplying the means, not in stimulating the desire of consumption; and we have seen that production alone, furnishes those means. Thus, it is the aim of good government to stimulate production, of bad government to encourage consumption.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XV, p. 138

“Freedoms and apprenticeships are likewise expedients of police, not of that wholesome branch of police, whose object is the maintenance of the public and private security, and which is neither costly nor vexatious; but of that sort of police which bad governments employ to preserve or extend their personal authority at any expense.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XVII, Section II, p. 177

“Capital in the hands of a national government forms a part of the gross national capital.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter III, p. 73

“The theory of interest was wrapped in utter obscurity, until Hume and Smith dispelled the vapor.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter VIII, Section I, p. 354

“The wants of mankind are supplied and satisfied out of the gross values produced and created, and not out of the net values only.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter II, p. 69

“But, is it possible for princes and ministers to be enlightened, when private individuals are not so?”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. liv

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

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. xxix

“A shop-keeper in good business is quite as well off as a pedlar that travels the country with his wares on his back. Commercial jealousy is, after all, nothing but prejudice: it is a wild fruit, that will drop of itself when it has arrived at maturity.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter IX, p. 101

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter VI, Section I, p. 418

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

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. xix

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter I, p. 290

“Valuation is vague and arbitrary, when there is no assurance that it will be generally acquiesced in by others.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter I, p. 285

“At Newfoundland, it is said, that dried cod performs the office of money”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XXI, Section II, p. 221

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

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. xxvi

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XVII, Section IV, P. 196

“The day will come, sooner or later, when people will wonder at the necessity of taking all this trouble to expose the folly of a system, so childish and absurd, and yet so often enforced at the point of a bayonet.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XVII, Digression, p. 159

“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?”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter IV, p. 76

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter IV, p. 400

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter VII, p. 336

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

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter IX, p. 104

“To have never done anything but make the eighteenth part of a pin, is a sorry account for a human being to give of his existence.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter VIII, p. 98 (See also: Adam Smith)

“The ancients, by their system of colonization, made themselves friends all over the known world; the moderns have sought to make subjects, and therefore have made enemies.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XIX, p. 213

“The occupation of the stock-jobber yields no new or useful product; consequently having no product of his own to give in exchange, he has no revenue to subsist upon, but what he contrives to make out of the unskilfulness or ill-fortune of gamesters like himself.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter IX, p. 481 (See also: Karl Marx, Capital, Volume III, Chapter XXVII, p. 440)

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

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XVI, p. 142

“The most effectual encouragement to population is, the activity of industry, and the consequent multiplication of the national products.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter XI, Section I, p. 375 (See also: Thomas Malthus)

“It is, perhaps, a well founded objection to Mr. Ricardo, that he sometimes reasons upon abstract principles to which he gives too great a generalization.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. xlvii

“With no fixed opinions in relation to the causes of public prosperity, the nation, like a ship without chart or compass, was driven about by the caprice of the winds and the folly of the pilot, alike ignorant of the place of her departure or destination.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. lvi

“No human being has the faculty of originally creating matter, which is more than nature itself can do. But any one may avail himself of the agents offered him by nature, to invest matter with utility.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter II, p. 65

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

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. xxi

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter XI, Section I, p. 372-373

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter I, note 2

“A much larger value is consumed in lettuces than in pineapples, throughout Europe at large; and the superb shawls of Cachemere are, in France, a very poor object in trade, in comparison with the plain cotton goods of Rouen.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter VI, p. 323

“What would people think of a tradesman, that was to give a ball in his shop, hire performers, and hand refreshments about, with a view to benefit his business?”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XX, p. 214 (See also: Marketing)

“The United States will have the honour of proving experimentally, that true policy goes hand in hand with moderation and humanity.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XV, p. 138

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter VI, Section II, p. 433

“The sea and wind can at the same time convey my neighbour's vessel and my own.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter IX, Section I, p. 360

“There is no security of property, where a despotic authority can possess itself of the property of the subject against his consent. Neither is there such security, where the consent is merely nominal and delusive.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XIV

“regulation is useful and proper, when aimed at the prevention of fraud or contrivance, manifestly injurious to other kinds of production, or to the public safety, and not at prescribing the nature of the products and the methods of fabrication.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XVII, Section II, p. 181

“The haggardness of poverty is everywhere seen contrasted with the sleekness of wealth, the exhorted labour of some compensating for the idleness of others, wretched hovels by the side of stately colonnades, the rags of indigence blended with the ensigns of opulence; in a word, the most useless profusion in the midst of the most urgent wants.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. l

“Law has been unjustly charged with the whole blame of the calamities resulting from the scheme that bears his name.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter XXII, Section IV, p. 281

“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.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter IX, Section I, p. 363

“The command of a large sum is a dangerous temptation to a national administration. Though accumulated at their expense, the people rarely, if ever profit by it: yet in point of fact, all value, and consequently, all wealth, originates with the people.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter IX, p. 487

“Capital must work, as it were, in concert with industry; and this concurrence is what I call the productive agency of capital.”

Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter III, p. 73

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