Thorstein Veblen Quotes

Quotes about:

• Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Mean, Gentleman, Leisure

  The Theory of the Leisure Class ch. 4 (1899) See Rae 1

  89 Copy quote

• The thief or swindler who has gained great wealth by his delinquency has a better chance than the small thief of escaping the rigorous penalty of the law.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Escaping, Law, Thieves

  Thorstein Veblen (1993). “A Veblen Treasury: From Leisure Class to War, Peace, and Capitalism”, p.65, M.E. Sharpe

  36 Copy quote

• The possession of wealth confers honor; it is an invidious distinction.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Honor, Wealth, Distinction

  Thorstein Veblen (1993). “A Veblen Treasury: From Leisure Class to War, Peace, and Capitalism”, p.18, M.E. Sharpe

  25 Copy quote

• The abjectly poor, and all those person whose energies are entirely absorbed by the struggle for daily sustenance, are conservative because they cannot afford the effort of taking thought for the day after tomorrow; just as the highly prosperous are conservative because they have small occasion to be discontented with the situation as it stands today.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Struggle, Effort, Energy

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “THORSTEIN VEBLEN Ultimate Collection: 8 Books & 50+ Business Essays and Articles in Warfare and Economics: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning In America, Panem et Circenses, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, The Use of Loan Credit in Business…”, p.132, e-artnow

  32 Copy quote

• Labor wants pride and joy in doing good work, a sense of making or doing something beautiful or useful - to be treated with dignity and respect as brother and sister.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Inspirational, Beautiful, Respect

  63 Copy quote

• Only individuals with an aberrant temperament can in the long run retain their self-esteem in the face of the disesteem of their fellows.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Running, Self Esteem, Character

  Thorstein Veblen (2012). “The Theory of the Leisure Class”, p.27, Courier Corporation

  33 Copy quote

• Beauty is commonly a gratification of our sense of costliness masquerading under the name of beauty.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Names, Instant Gratification, Gratification

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Premium Collection: 25+ Titles in One Volume: The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning in America, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, On the Nature of Capital…: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Beginning of Ownership, The Preconceptions of Economic Science, The Industrial System and the Captains of Industry, The Socialist Economics of Karl Marx…”, p.84, e-artnow

  7 Copy quote

• No one travelling on a business trip would be missed if he failed to arrive.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Business, Would Be, Business Trips

  17 Copy quote

• The addiction to sports, therefore, in a peculiar degree marks an arrested development in man's moral nature.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Sports, Men, Addiction

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Premium Collection: 25+ Titles in One Volume: The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning in America, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, On the Nature of Capital…: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Beginning of Ownership, The Preconceptions of Economic Science, The Industrial System and the Captains of Industry, The Socialist Economics of Karl Marx…”, p.162, e-artnow

  17 Copy quote

• The quasi-peaceable gentleman of leisure, then, not only consumes of the staff of life beyond the minimum required for subsistence and physical efficiency, but his consumption also undergoes a specialisation as regards the quality of the goods consumed. He consumes freely and of the best, in food, drink, narcotics, shelter, services, ornaments, apparel, weapons and accoutrements, amusements, amulets, and idols or divinities.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Idols, Gentleman, Quality

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “THE THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS: An Economic Study of American Institutions and a Social Critique of Conspicuous Consumption: Development of Institutions That Shape Society and Influence the Livelihood of Citizens: Based on Sociological & Economical Theories of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Adam Smith and Herbert Spencer”, p.48, e-artnow

  30 Copy quote

• Abstention from labor is the conventional evidence of wealth and is therefore the conventional mark of social standing.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Wealth, Social, Mark

  Thorstein Veblen (1993). “A Veblen Treasury: From Leisure Class to War, Peace, and Capitalism”, p.26, M.E. Sharpe

  18 Copy quote

• With the exception of the instinct of self-preservation, the propensity for emulation is probably the strongest and most alert and persistent of the economic motives proper.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Business, Self, Emulation

  The Theory of the Leisure Class ch. 5 (1899)

  10 Copy quote

• The institution of a leisure class has emerged gradually during the transition from primitive savagery to barbarism; or more precisely, during the transition from a peaceable to a consistently warlike habit of life.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Class, Transition, Leisure

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “THE THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS: An Economic Study of American Institutions and a Social Critique of Conspicuous Consumption: Development of Institutions That Shape Society and Influence the Livelihood of Citizens: Based on Sociological & Economical Theories of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Adam Smith and Herbert Spencer”, p.7, e-artnow

  10 Copy quote

• Invention is the mother of necessity.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Mother, Invention, Favourite

  Thorstein Veblen (1994). “Absentee Ownership: Business Enterprise in Recent Times : the Case of America”, p.63, Transaction Publishers

  14 Copy quote

• Born in iniquity and conceived in sin, the spirit of nationalism has never ceased to bend human institutions to the service of dissension and distress.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Patriotism, Politics, Spirit

  Thorstein Veblen (1994). “Absentee Ownership: Business Enterprise in Recent Times : the Case of America”, p.38, Transaction Publishers

  19 Copy quote

• The early ascendancy of leisure as a means of reputability is traceable to the archaic distinction between noble and ignoble employments. Leisure is honourable and becomes imperative partly because it shows exemption from ignoble labour.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Mean, Employment, Noble

  Thorstein Veblen (2012). “The Theory of the Leisure Class”, p.64, Courier Corporation

  8 Copy quote

• The requirement of conspicuous wastefulness is... present as a constraining norm selectively shaping and sustaining our sense of what is beautiful.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Beautiful, Requirements, Norm

  Thorstein Veblen (1993). “A Veblen Treasury: From Leisure Class to War, Peace, and Capitalism”, p.71, M.E. Sharpe

  18 Copy quote

• The individual's habits of thought make an organic complex, the trend of which is necessarily in the direction of serviceability to the life process. When it is attempted to assimilate systematic waste or futility, as an end in life, into this organic complex, there presently supervenes a revulsion.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Trends, Systematic, Waste

  Thorstein Veblen (2012). “The Theory of the Leisure Class”, p.168, Courier Corporation

  7 Copy quote

• The first duty of an editor is to gauge the sentiment of his reader, and then to tell them what they like to believe.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Believe, Editors, Firsts

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “THE THEORY OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISE (Nature, Causes, Utility & Drift of Business Enterprise): A Political Economy Book”, p.177, e-artnow

  6 Copy quote

• Socialism is a dead horse.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Wisdom, Horse, Politics

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “The Complete Works of Thorstein Veblen: Economics Books, Business Essays & Political Articles: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning In America, The Use of Loan Credit in Business…”, p.2442, e-artnow

  19 Copy quote

• Instead of investing in the goods as they pass between producer and consumer, as the merchant does, the businessman now invests in the processes of industry.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Doe, Investing, Process

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Premium Collection: 25+ Titles in One Volume: The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning in America, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, On the Nature of Capital…: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Beginning of Ownership, The Preconceptions of Economic Science, The Industrial System and the Captains of Industry, The Socialist Economics of Karl Marx…”, p.268, e-artnow

  12 Copy quote

• The dog commends himself to our favor by affording play to our propensity for mastery

  Thorstein Veblen

  Dog, Play, Mastery

  Thorstein Veblen (1993). “A Veblen Treasury: From Leisure Class to War, Peace, and Capitalism”, p.77, M.E. Sharpe

  21 Copy quote

• The domestic life of most classes is relatively shabby, as compared with the éclat of that overt portion of their life that is carried on before the eyes of observers.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Eye, Class, Portions

  Thorstein Veblen (2012). “The Theory of the Leisure Class”, p.77, Courier Corporation

  8 Copy quote

• The chief use of servants is the evidence they afford of the master's ability to pay.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Use, Pay, Masters

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “THORSTEIN VEBLEN Ultimate Collection: 8 Books & 50+ Business Essays and Articles in Warfare and Economics: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning In America, Panem et Circenses, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, The Use of Loan Credit in Business…”, p.44, e-artnow

  16 Copy quote

• It is much more difficult to recede from a scale of expenditure once adopted than it is to extend the accustomed scale in response to an accession of wealth.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Wealth, Scales, Difficult

  Thorstein Veblen (2016). “BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Premium Collection: 25+ Titles in One Volume: The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning in America, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, On the Nature of Capital…: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Beginning of Ownership, The Preconceptions of Economic Science, The Industrial System and the Captains of Industry, The Socialist Economics of Karl Marx…”, p.69, e-artnow

  6 Copy quote

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