Dudley North Quotes

Moneys imployed at Interest in this Nation, are not near the Tenth part, disposed to Trading People, wherewith to manage their Trades; but are for the most part lent for the supplying of Luxury, and to support the Expence of Persons, who though great Owners of Lands, yet spend faster than their Lands bring in; and being loath to sell, choose rather to mortgage their Estates.

All the banks in Christendom could not control money.

No person shall practice usury at a rate of more than one twelfth.

In the past, Federal Reserve chairmen have not generally gone directly to the public.

I have spoken about deficits, and I think deficits are important because they address broad economic and financial stability. We need to talk about that.

The connection which formerly existed between the Government and banks was in reality injurious to both, as well as to the general interests of the community at large.

The best way to deal with any economic problem is to let the market work it through.

The farmer may often have suffered from excessive interest and grasping creditors; but it was no less frequently the avarice of the lender that got him into trouble than the fact that he was too sanguine and too prone to believe that he could safely go into debt, on the assumption that crops and prices in the future would equal those in the present.

People who wouldn’t think of raising taxes think there’s nothing wrong with mortgaging the future of their state

We should rely on the markets to move on their own.

If the legal rate of interest in Great Britain, for example, was fixed so high as eight or ten per cent. the greater part of the money which was to be lent, would be lent to prodigals and projectors, who alone would be willing to give this high interest. Sober people, who will give for the use of money no more than a part of what they are likely to make by the use of it, would not venture into the competition. A great part of the capital of the country would thus be kept out of the hands which were most likely to make a profitable and advantageous use of it, and thrown into those which were most likely to waste and destroy it. Where the legal interest, on the contrary, is fixed but a very little above the lowest market rate, sober people are universally preferred as borrowers, to prodigals and projectors. The person who lends money, gets nearly as much interest from the former, as he dares to take from the latter, and his money is much safer in the hands of the one set of people than in those of the other.

Credit is of pernicious consequence to that Nation, that uses or encourages it beyond Nature.

I avert, that high Interest will bring Money out from Hoards, Plate, etc. into Trade, when low interest will keep it back.

No pecuniary consideration is more urgent than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt. On none can delay be more injurious or an economy of time more valuable

It’s not the government’s job to bail out speculators.

When Interest is less, Trade is incourag'd, and the Merchant can be a Gainer; whereas, when it is great, the Usurer, or Money-owner takes all. The Dutch, with whom Interest is low, Trade cheaper, and under-sell us.

A national debt, properly funded and serviced, can be a potent instrument of national policy.

Markets are smart and governments are dumb.

There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.

I don’t think that the Fed [Federal Reserve] ever can be or should be a prisoner of the markets.

Monetary stability is a cornerstone of the social contract.

People expect central banks to be their saviors.

There is no need for government to intervene in money and prices because of changing population or for any other reason. The 'problem' of the proper supply of money is not a problem at all.

While I'd like to be able to simply do all of my financings with a handshake or, possibly, on a napkin written in crayon, I also wish I had a herd of unicorns surrounded by rainbows, a balanced U.S. government budget, and agreement on how to address the debt ceiling issue.

Let's have honest interest rates. Let's let the free market set interest rates in that zone where supply of savings is matched up with demand for real borrowing for capital projects.