Quotes about selling
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John Nash photo

“People are always selling the idea that people with mental illness are suffering. I think madness can be an escape. If things are not so good, you maybe want to imagine something better. In madness, I thought I was the most important person in the world.”

John Nash (1928–2015) American mathematician and Nobel Prize laureate

As quoted in " A Brilliant Madness A Beautiful Madness http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/ (2002), PBS TV program; also cited in Doing Psychiatry Wrong: A Critical and Prescriptive Look at a Faltering Profession (2013) by René J. Muller, p. 62
2000s

Luis Muñoz Marín photo

“If you want to sell your vote, go ahead; it's a free country. But be sure you get something for it… You can't get both justice and the two dollars.”

Luis Muñoz Marín (1898–1980) American politician

Quoted by TIME Magazine on March 31, 1941 when commenting on Puerto Rican jíbaros accepting $2 bribes for their votes. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765338-1,00.html

Ronald H. Coase photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Thomas Paine photo
Gertrude Stein photo
Jennifer Beals photo
Karl Marx photo

“We will hang the capitalists with the rope that they sell us.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Often attributed to Lenin or Stalin, less often to Marx. According to the book, "They Never Said It", p. 64, the phrase derives from a rumour that Lenin said this to one of his close associates, Grigori Zinoviev, not long after a meeting of the Politburo in the early 1920s, but there is no evidence that he ever did. Experts on the Soviet Union reject the rope quote as spurious.
Misattributed

Barack Obama photo

“Making products that we sell around the world stamped with three proud words: Made in the USA.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event – Melbourne, Florida https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/09/09/remarks-president-campaign-event-melbourne-florida (9 September 2012)
2012

Tom Robbins photo

“Authority is to be ridiculed, outwitted and avoided. And it's fairly easy to do all three. If you believe in peace, act peacefully; if you believe in love, acting lovingly; if you believe every which way, then act every which way, that's perfectly valid — but don't go out trying to sell your beliefs to the system. You end up contradicting what you profess to believe in, and you set a bum example. If you want to change the world, change yourself.”

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976)
Context: I set an example. That's all anyone can do. I'm sorry the cowgirls didn't pay better attention, but I couldn't force them to notice me. I've lived most of my entire adult life outside the law, and never have I compromised with authority. But neither have I gone out and picked fights with authority. That's stupid. They're waiting for that; they invite it; it helps keep them powerful. Authority is to be ridiculed, outwitted and avoided. And it's fairly easy to do all three. If you believe in peace, act peacefully; if you believe in love, acting lovingly; if you believe every which way, then act every which way, that's perfectly valid — but don't go out trying to sell your beliefs to the system. You end up contradicting what you profess to believe in, and you set a bum example. If you want to change the world, change yourself.

Barack Obama photo
Abraham Lincoln photo

“It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and the usages and customs of war as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, and for no offence against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism and a crime against the civilization of the age.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Order of Retaliation http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln6/1:755?rgn=div1;view=fulltext (30 July 1863); quoted in Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 7 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953), p. 357
1860s
Context: It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and the usages and customs of war as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, and for no offence against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism and a crime against the civilization of the age. The government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers, and if the enemy shall sell or enslave anyone because of his color, the offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners in our possession. It is therefore ordered that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on the public works and continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war

Francis Drake photo

“Coming up unto them, there has passed some cannon shot between some of our fleet and some of them, and so far as we perceive they are determined to sell their lives with blows.”

Francis Drake (1540–1596) English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era

Letter to Admiral Henry Seymour, after coming upon part of the Spanish Armada, written aboard the Revenge (31 July 1588 {21 July 1588 O.S.})
Context: Coming up unto them, there has passed some cannon shot between some of our fleet and some of them, and so far as we perceive they are determined to sell their lives with blows. … This letter honorable good Lord, is sent in haste. The fleet of Spaniards is somewhat above a hundred sails, many great ships; but truly, I think not half of them men-of-war. Haste.

Jacque Fresco photo
Al Capone photo
Al Capone photo
Jawaharlal Nehru photo
Philip Kotler photo
Jacque Fresco photo
Carroll Shelby photo

“Horsepower sells cars, torque wins races.”

Carroll Shelby (1923–2012) American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur.
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Karl Marx photo
John Ruskin photo

“There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey.”

John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic

According to Ruskin scholar George P. Landow, there is no evidence that this quotation or its variants can be found in any of Ruskin's works.
[Landow, George P., A Ruskin Quotation?, VictorianWeb.org, 2007-07-27, http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/ruskin/quotation.html, 2013-01-07]
Disputed

Sherrilyn Kenyon photo
Ogden Nash photo
Will Rogers photo

“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

Variant: Lead your life so you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.

Mary Doria Russell photo
Jo Walton photo
Frank Lloyd Wright photo

“If it sells, it's art.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)
George Carlin photo
Jim Butcher photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Joan Didion photo

“Writers are always selling somebody out.”

Joan Didion (1934) American writer

"A Preface", in Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Rachel Caine photo
Tom Robbins photo
Benjamin Graham photo

“The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.”

Source: The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing (1949), Chapter II, The Investor and Stock-Market Fluctuations, p. 31
Context: Why could the typical investor expect any better success in trying to buy at low levels and sell at high levels than in trying to forecast what the market is going to do? Because if he does the former he acts only after the market has moved down into buying levels or up into selling levels. His role is not that of a prophet but of a businessman seizing clearly evident investment opportunities. He is not trying to be smarter than his fellow investors but simply trying to be less irrational than the mass of speculators who insist on buying after the market advances and selling after it goes down. If the market persists in behaving foolishly, all he seems to need is ordinary common sense in order to exploit its foolishness.

Barbara Ehrenreich photo
Joanne Harris photo
Joss Whedon photo
William Goldman photo

“Life is pain. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.”

Variant: Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
Source: The Princess Bride

Victor J. Stenger photo
Cassandra Clare photo

“But you'd sell your soul for it, wouldn't you? For one day of feeling beautiful.”

Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer

Source: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

Cassandra Clare photo
Abbie Hoffman photo
Brené Brown photo

“Ads sell a great deal more than products. They sell values, images, and concepts of success and worth.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

Meg Cabot photo
Libba Bray photo
Chuck Palahniuk photo
Bob Dylan photo
Max Brooks photo

“Fear is the most basic emotion we have. Fear is primal. Fear sells.”

Source: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Alan Moore photo
Richelle Mead photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Billy Graham photo
George Bernard Shaw photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Norman Spinrad photo
Carolyn Mackler photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Ayn Rand photo
Ayn Rand photo
Naomi Klein photo
Emma Goldman photo
Isabel Allende photo
Laurell K. Hamilton photo
James Patterson photo
Libba Bray photo
Miguel de Unamuno photo
Paris Hilton photo

“What's Wal-mart? Do they sell Walls and stuff?”

Paris Hilton (1981) American socialite

The Simple Life

Shane Claiborne photo
Edwin Lefèvre photo

“When you find that it fails to respond adequately to your buying you don't need any better tip to sell.”

Source: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923), Chapter XXI, p. 249

Pauline Kael photo
Mitt Romney photo

“I'm not happy exporting jobs but we must move ahead in technology and patents. I don't like losing any jobs but we'll see new opportunities created selling products there. We'll have a net net increase in economic activity, just as we did with free trade. It's tempting to want to protect our markets and stay closed. But at some point it all comes crashing down and you're hopelessly left behind. Then you are Russia.”

Mitt Romney (1947) American businessman and politician

"Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's Message: Globalize or Die", CRN.com, 2005-12-16 http://www.crn.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=HV04UPK5RVOU2QSNDBNCKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleID=174300587
2003–2007 Governor of Massachusetts

Henry Hazlitt photo

“Suppose a clothing manufacturer learns of a machine that will make men’s and women's overcoats for half as much labor as previously. He installs the machines and drops half his labor force.This looks at first glance like a clear loss of employment. But the machine itself required labor to make it; so here, as one offset, are jobs that would not otherwise have existed. The manufacturer, how ever, would have adopted the machine only if it had either made better suits for half as much labor, or had made the same kind of suits at a smaller cost. If we assume the latter, we cannot assume that the amount of labor to make the machines was as great in terms of pay rolls as the amount of labor that the clothing manufacturer hopes to save in the long run by adopting the machine; otherwise there would have been no economy, and he would not have adopted it.So there is still a net loss of employment to be accounted for. But we should at least keep in mind the real possibility that even the first effect of the introduction of labor-saving machinery may be to increase employment on net balance; because it is usually only in the long run that the clothing manufacturer expects to save money by adopting the machine: it may take several years for the machine to "pay for itself."After the machine has produced economies sufficient to offset its cost, the clothing manufacturer has more profits than before. (We shall assume that he merely sells his coats for the same price as his competitors, and makes no effort to undersell them.) At this point, it may seem, labor has suffered a net loss of employment, while it is only the manufacturer, the capitalist, who has gained. But it is precisely out of these extra profits that the subsequent social gains must come. The manufacturer must use these extra profits in at least one of three ways, and possibly he will use part of them in all three: (1) he will use the extra profits to expand his operations by buying more machines to make more coats; or (2) he will invest the extra profits in some other industry; or (3) he will spend the extra profits on increasing his own consumption. Whichever of these three courses he takes, he will increase employment.”

Economics in One Lesson (1946), The Curse of Machinery (ch. 7)

Hung Hsiu-chu photo

““I will not hesitate to even sell my house. It (Kuomintang) is my party and I will save it myself.”

Hung Hsiu-chu (1948) Taiwanese politician

Hung Hsiu-chu (2016) cited in " KMT Chairwoman Hung would ‘sell her house’ to pay KMT workers’ salaries http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/10/09/2003656809" on Taipei Times, 9 October 2016

John Woolman photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Patrick Stump photo
Rufus Wainwright photo
John Perkins photo
S. I. Hayakawa photo
Rob Pike photo
Mark Manson photo