“In theory, everybody buys the best and cheapest commodities offered to him on the market. In practice, if every one went around pricing, and chemically testing before purchasing, the dozens of soaps or fabrics or brands of bread which are for sale, economic life would become hopelessly jammed.”
Source: Propaganda (1928), p. 39
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Edward Bernays28
American public relations consultant, marketing pioneer 1891–1995Related quotes
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)
1920s, Whose Country Is This? (1921)
Philip Kotler (1931) American marketing author, consultant and professor
Philip Kotler (1999), as cited in: Dennis Adcock, Al Halborg, Caroline Ross (2001), Marketing: Principles and Practice. p. 208
Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
As quoted in Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (1995), by Roger Lowenstein, p. 77
Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant
Source: 1930s- 1950s, The End of Economic Man (1939), p. 84
Eric Wolf (1923–1999) American anthropologist
Source: Europe and the People Without History, 1982, Chapter 12 The New Laborers, p. 354.
“A good teacher offers practice, a bad one offers theories.”
Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer
Cultivation
One Minute Wisdom (1989)
Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield book Industrial Democracy
Industrial Democracy, written with Beatrice Webb (1902) 842
“One test of good theory is that it have practical implications.”
Charles Perrow (1925–2019) American sociologist
Source: 1970s, Organizational Analysis: A Sociological View, 1970, p. vii
Context: It is surprising how much discipline is imposed upon theory by requiring that it ‘make a difference’ and provide guidance or useful illumination. I learned long ago from students in professional schools that questions of ‘so what’ or ‘what relevance does this have’ do not signify impatience with theory per se, much less anti-intellectualism, but only impatience with the obvious, general, remote, and vague statements that often parade as social science theory. One test of good theory is that it have practical implications.