William Petty Quotes
Labour is the father and active principle of wealth, as lands are the mother.
William Petty, 1623-1687, English economist, scientist and philosopher, A Treatise of Taxes, and Contributions, 1662
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
While Turgot was right about so much, this was one of his big errors—the assumption that land was fundamental to and necessary for, wealth. In many countries it is still true, but of the recent billionaires like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Carlos Slim and most others, they own very little land. In the United States and Canada, there are large tracts of land that few or no one will buy and a cast majority of people do not make their living from land.
Statements like this caused some to believe him a Marxist, but see his quotation on Karl Marx -- {603061}.
This view that the more people a country has, the richer it is, has gone hand in hand with the notion that a large population will assure a nation of extensive military prowess. However, both of these are now known to be false. The most heavily populated nations are among the poorest, and military prowess is more a function of the training of troops and the modern tools and weapons. Tiny Israel has demonstrated that many times since its origin. It has been attacked over and over by several nations at a time. Despite the fact that Israel was vastly outnumbered by enemy troops and weapons like tanks and planes, Israel has repeatedly demolished the more populous enemies. The world, observing this, no longer emphasizes trying to build a large manpower pool as it does not help militarily and it makes full employment very difficult.
The high level of educational attainment and a good telecommunications infrastructure made Ireland a major high technology world power whose exports of software in 2000 were second only to the United States.
Ironically, Fitzhugh who detested socialism, held this basic socialist principle. His solution however, was that the profits were necessary for society, and therefore slavery was the solution for Blacks AND whites.
While Peres and many others think that the Arab nations can become developed countries, there are major barriers in the way. One is oil. No country that has had a great deal of oil has ever developed. Then there is education. Israel’s technological success requires a very high level of education in secular subjects which no Arab nation provides. The Western cultural values of inquiry, freedom of thought, individuality are were in large part developed from the traditional Jewish values. The Muslims had these at the early 2nd millineum. But political and religious forces since then, have created contemporary Arab cultures whose vaues are in many ways antithetical to modern technological development.
Sir William Petty FRS was an English economist, physician, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth in Ireland. He developed efficient methods to survey the land that was to be confiscated and given to Cromwell's soldiers. He also remained a significant figure under King Charles II and King James II, as did many others who had served Cromwell.
