Niall Ferguson Quotes

The War of 1812 has given new direction to wealth and industry in the United States, and manufacturers grew up as if by magic.

The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication, draw all, even the most barbarian of nations into civilization.

...industrialisation took centuries, rather than decades

It is impossible for any power to become eminent in commerce, without excelling in manufactures and navigation. America is capable of supporting and increasing both …

If England became a world power, it was because of the industrial revolution.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century the industrial-financial revolution began.

With production alone as the goal, industry in North America was dominated by the assembly line, standardization for mass consumption.

... a better government: more complete security of property; moderate taxes; a more permanent ... tenure of land ... the introduction of foreign arts ... and the introduction of foreign capital, which renders the increase of production no longer exclusively on the thrift or providence of the inhabitants themselves.

Modernization is found in markets.

The main occupation of society has changed from fighting to business, from military to industrial life.

Debt relief without the opening of markets will not relieve third world countries from their poverty.

The facts of our present industrial system are of so, complicated a nature that they have not only defied the attention of economists for the last fifty years, but they have deceived practical men who have given to them not only the time economists have given, but their whole lives.

Every new mine, furnace, and factory is an extension of the productive capacity of the State more real and valuable than added territory.

We have no longer States that are necessarily only planting States. None are excluded from achieving that diversification of pursuits among the people which brings wealth and contentment.

America…could within twenty years bring us to a degree of development which Turks, left to themselves, would not be able to achieve in a century. It would make Turkey prosperous, rich and happy and turn Turks into a strong and civilized nation.

The essence of the Industrial Revolution was the substitution of competition for the medieval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth.

We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or they will crush us.

The democratic political institutions of Western countries arose and matured as industrial capitalism matured. It was a time of historically unprecedented economic growth and the concomitant development of new social groupings and relationships. They arose in elite political cultures that were in the main ethnically homogeneous, even if, notably in the American case, the society at large was considerably less so.

Over the last three decades, Mexico has made the transition from a commodity and agricultural-based economy to one dominated by manufacturing and services.

It's important to remember that Britain was the first country to industrialize, so I think there's a strong argument to say this is where my profession was founded.

Next to the pastoral came the agricultural life. When you add to that the manufacturing phase of development, society begins to fill out, and needs but wings to fly, and commerce is its wings.

I invite you all to participate in Make in India.

Nearly every country in the world is now becoming industrialized as rapidly as it can.

I had learned what wealth was, and a great deal about production and exchange for myself in the early history of South Australia - of the value of machinery, of roads and bridges, and of ports for transport and export.

To think that the new economy is over is like somebody in London in 1830 saying the entire industrial revolution is over because some textile manufacturers in Manchester went broke.