Jean-Baptiste Say - Labour Quotes

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Labour, upon whichever of those operations it be bestowed, is productive, because it concurs in the creation of a product. Thus the labour of the philosopher, whether experimental or literary, is productive; the labour of the adventurer or master-manufacturer is productive, although he perform no actual manual work; the labour of every operative workman is productive, from the common day-labourer in agriculture, to the pilot that governs the motion of a ship.

Jean-Baptiste Say
The celebrated Adam Smith was the first to point out the immense increase of production, and the superior perfection of products referable to this division of labour.

Jean-Baptiste Say
The haggardness of poverty is everywhere seen contrasted with the sleekness of wealth, the exhorted labour of some compensating for the idleness of others, wretched hovels by the side of stately colonnades, the rags of indigence blended with the ensigns of opulence; in a word, the most useless profusion in the midst of the most urgent wants.

Jean-Baptiste Say
A man who applies his labour to the investing of objects with value by the creation of utility of some sort, can not expect such a value to be appreciated and paid for, unless where other men have the means of purchasing it. Now, of what do these means consist? Of other values of other products, likewise the fruits of industry, capital, and land. Which leads us to a conclusion that may at first appear paradoxical, namely, that it is production which opens a demand for products.

Jean-Baptiste Say
When a tree, a natural product, is felled, is society put into possession of no greater produce than that of the mere labour of the woodman?

Jean-Baptiste Say
When war becomes a trade, it benefits, like all other trades, from the division of labour.

Jean-Baptiste Say