
“…if you are nothing but profit-conscious, you cannot see the opportunities ahead.”
Made in Japan (1986)
General sources
Context: The thing we must do intensely is be human together. People are more important than things. We must get together. The best thing humans can have going for them is each other. We have each other. We must reject everything which humiliates us. Humans are not objects of consumption. We must develop an absolute priority of humans ahead of profit — any humans ahead of any profit. Then we will survive. … Together.
"Introduction" to New World or No World (1970)<!-- an anthology of environmental writing -->
“…if you are nothing but profit-conscious, you cannot see the opportunities ahead.”
Made in Japan (1986)
1994 Chairman's Letter http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1994.html
Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)
Source: Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
“Share the Profits with Labor” speech (Dec. 2, 1934) p. 52
A Series of Lectures on Social Justice, 1935
“Any enjoyment or profit we get from life, we get Now; to kill Now is to abridge our own lives.”
A Voice from the Attic (1960)
“Putting God ahead of humanity is a terrible thing.”
The Atheism Tapes (2004)
Context: Many people do simply awful things out of sincere religious belief, not using religion as a cover the way that Saddam Hussein may have done, but really because they believe that this is what God wants them to do, going all the way back to Abraham being willing to sacrifice Isaac because God told him to do that. Putting God ahead of humanity is a terrible thing.
"How Many Americans Does It Take to Change a Dim Bulb?" Presented to the Second Annual Freedom Summit, Phoenix, Arizona, 12 & 13 October 2002 http://www.lneilsmith.org/freedomsummit2.html.
The Environmental Revolution: Speeches on Conservation, 1962–77 (1978)
Context: If we are to exercise our responsibilities so that all life can continue on earth, they must have a moral and philosophical basis. Simple self-interest, economic profit and absolute materialism are no longer enough... It has been made perfectly clear that a concern for any part of life on this planet — human, plant or animal, wild or tame — is a concern for all life. A threat to any part of the environment is a threat to the whole environment, but we must have a basis of assessment of these threats, not so that we can establish a priority of fears, but so that we can make a positive contribution to improvement and ultimate survival.