“Capitalism is “the astonishing belief that the nastiest motives of the nastiest men somehow or other work for the best results in the best of all possible worlds.””
Attributed by Sir George Schuster, Christianity and human relations in industry (1951), p. 109
Recent variant: Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
As quoted in Moving Forward: Programme for a Participatory Economy (2000) by Michael Albert, p. 128
Attributed
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John Maynard Keynes122
British economist 1883–1946Related quotes
“If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?”
Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher
Citas, Candide (1759)
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)
1920s, The Genius of America (1924)
Context: It is my belief that those who live here and really want to help some other country, can best accomplish that result by making themselves truly and wholly American. I mean by that, giving their first allegiance to this country and always directing their actions in a course which will be first of all for the best interests of this country. They cannot help other nations by bringing old world race prejudices and race hatreds into action here. In fact, they can best help other countries by scrupulously avoiding any such motives. It can be taken for granted that we all wish to help Europe. We cannot secure that result by proposing or taking any action that would injure America. Nor can we secure it by proposing or taking any action that would seriously injure some European country.
“The best capital in the world, Mariana, is honesty.”
Girolamo Gigli (1660–1722) Italian dramaturge
Il Don Pilone (1711), Act I., Sc. IX.
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 334.
“What God says is best, is best, though all the men in the world are against it.”
John Bunyan (1628–1688) English Christian writer and preacher
Source: The Pilgrims Progress
Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist
Heaven and Hell
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part II - Elementary Morality
“The Optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds, the Pessimist fears it is true.”
Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) American theoretical physicist and professor of physics
This is derived from a statement of James Branch Cabell, in The Silver Stallion (1926) : The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
Misattributed
Variant: The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true.
James Buchanan (1791–1868) American politician, 15th President of the United States (in office from 1857 to 1861)
As quoted in Presidential Leadership : Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House (2004) edited by James Taranto and Leonard Leo.
