Joe Lonsdale Quotes

Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man.

Above and beyond the question of how to grow the economy there is a legitimate concern about how to grow the quality of our lives.

Until the last great war, a general expectation of material improvement was an idea peculiar to Western man. Now war and its aftermath have made economic and social progress a political imperative in every quarter of the globe.

With the introduction of agriculture mankind entered upon a long period of meanness, misery, and madness, from which they are only now being freed by the beneficent operation of the machine.

The ultimate test of the value of a political system is whether it helps that society to establish conditions which improve the standard of living for the majority of its people.

Growth is a panacea for many ills in society; not entirely, but many.

Bend everything toward improving the standard of living of the people.

The European talks of progress because by the aid of a few scientific discoveries he has established a society which has mistaken comfort for civilization.

India, China, and Latin America have a tremendous stake in the people's century. As their masses learn to read and write, and as they become productive mechanics, their standard of living will double and treble.

The positive aspects of modernity are to be acknowledged unreservedly: we are all grateful for the marvellous possibilities that it has opened up for mankind and for the progress in humanity that has been granted to us.

When you compare individuals, rather than countries, you find that education improves both income and the quality of life.

As society advances the standard of poverty rises.

Great countries are those that produce great people.

Where humanity is going to find itself in, say, 20, 30, 40, or 50 years would be very difficult to predict, I think. There are moments, of course, when you think that it's going from bad to worse, but there are other moments when you think that human efforts are really flowering into something really fantastic.

The biggest determinant in our lives is culture, where we are born, what the environment looks like. But the second biggest determinant is probably governance, good governance or a certain kind of governance makes a huge difference in our lives.

As poverty has been reduced in terms of mere survival, it has become more profound in terms of our way of life.

Educational opportunities have supported the rise of the African middle class, the professional cadre of young people who are now willing and able to contribute to Africa's future prosperity.

We are not out to boast that there is so much percentage of growth per year. Our real concern is how it affects the lives of people, the future of our country.

We know what happens when a woman earns money. She is far more likely than a man to spend her earnings on the health and education of her children and to invest in improving her family's standard of living.

Maybe the preoccupation with technological progress has overshadowed our concern with human progress.

I am bullish on the global development. I am bullish on billions of people getting out of poverty.

All over the world, we're seeing access to food, clean water, education and healthcare improve; as a result, global innovation is rising as well.

In my fifty years of experience and memory, I have seen the most amazing increase in the standard of living of a people ever achieved anywhere in the world. This is why I am so sure that our system of free competition and industrial development is sound and must be preserved.

Government has never increased the standard of living of one single human being in civilization's history. For some reason that simple truth has evaded everybody.

We have never enjoyed a piece of the great American dream.