Source: The Economic Illusion (1984), Chapter 1, Equality and Efficiency, p. 37
“Private misfortunes must never induce us to neglect public affairs.”
chapter 5 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo/Chapter_5
The Count of Monte Cristo (1845–1846)
“To create a public scandal is what's wicked;
To sin in private is not a sin.”
Le scandale du monde est ce qui fait l'offense,
Et ce n'est pas pécher que pécher en silence.
Act IV, sc. v
Tartuffe (1664)
Amazon's Jeff Bezos looks to the future - CBS News http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazons-jeff-bezos-looks-to-the-future/.
“What is public opinion? It is private indolence.”
Source: An Essay on Aristocratic Radicalism (1889), p. 9
Source: Introduction to the Study of Public Administration, 1926, p. 3-4 (1939 edition); as cited in: Albert Lepawsky (1949), Administration, p. 8
1930s, State of the Union Address (1935)
Context: We find our population suffering from old inequalities, little changed by vast sporadic remedies. In spite of our efforts and in spite of our talk, we have not weeded out the over privileged and we have not effectively lifted up the underprivileged. Both of these manifestations of injustice have retarded happiness. No wise man has any intention of destroying what is known as the profit motive; because by the profit motive we mean the right by work to earn a decent livelihood for ourselves and for our families.
We have, however, a clear mandate from the people, that Americans must forswear that conception of the acquisition of wealth which, through excessive profits, creates undue private power over private affairs and, to our misfortune, over public affairs as well. In building toward this end we do not destroy ambition, nor do we seek to divide our wealth into equal shares on stated occasions. We continue to recognize the greater ability of some to earn more than others. But we do assert that the ambition of the individual to obtain for him and his a proper security, a reasonable leisure, and a decent living throughout life, is an ambition to be preferred to the appetite for great wealth and great power.
