Walter Bagehot Quotes

Most of the world leadership today is motivated by profit.

That's the trick of free market economic theory: it doesn't just ask you to only be selfish and not care about others. It tells you that by being selfish, you are helping others. And, in fact, by trying to directly help others, you will hurt them.

Economists love to talk about incentives, but the bottom line is that people hate being controlled or manipulated, even when done through voluntary institutions. This is one of the most important tensions in capitalism.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic.

Greed has been severely underestimated and denigrated—unfairly so in my opinion. … there's nothing wrong with avarice as a motive as long as it doesn't lead to dishonest … conduct.

You have to be cynical because this is a business. Everyone is making money out of you.

Capitalism has destroyed our belief in any effective power but that of self interest backed by force. But even Capitalist cynicism will admit that however unconscionable we may be when our own interests are affected, we can be most indignantly virtuous at the expense of others.

The attraction of power we take for granted in politics.. But in economics...the thrust...is for pecuniary return, for money. And I have always felt that denies in the economic world a very large part of the motivation.

I do everything for a reason. Most of the time the reason is money.

Ordinarily, everything we do is in our self-interest. Everything.

People who intend only to seek their own benefit are “led by an invisible hand to serve a public interest which was no part of” their intention. I say that there is a reverse invisible hand: People who intend to serve only the public interest are led by an invisible hand to serve private interests which was no part of their intention.

Adam Smith had one overwhelmingly important triumph: he put into the center of economics the systematic analysis of the behavior of individuals pursuing their self-interest under conditions of competition.

The dynamo of our economic system is self-interest which may range from mere petty greed to admirable types of self-expression.

The greatest productive force is human selfishness.

Money has never been a motivation.

I don't wanna work with people who only want to make money.

This is the western world; if somebody can make a buck, they're going to try to do it.

I think everyone that creates has to cope with the fact that people actually don't give you money because they like you, but because they get something out of it.

Capitalism doesn't care about sentimentality.

Not everybody's actions are based on ideas. Some people's actions are based on profit.

Everything is always about people trying to make profit: Profits to this, profits to that, the more the merrier, and there's no end to it.

Let's take Adam Smith, the patron-saint of capitalism, what did he think? He thought the main human instinct was sympathy. In fact, take a look at the word "invisible hand." Which, of course, you learned about, or you think you've learned about. Take a look at the actual way in which he used the phrase. There is almost no relation to what is claimed.

Along with others, I have tried to pry economists away from narrow assumptions about self interest. Behavior is driven by a much richer set of values and preferences.

You have to remove your human sentiment when it comes to greed and the accumulation of wealth.