Frédéric Bastiat - Common Sense with Paul Jacob

Frédéric Bastiat

In a state of isolation, our wants exceed our powers; in consequence of Exchange, our powers exceed our wants.

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Thought of the Day

[T]here is a proverbial maxim which bears witness to the advantage sometimes possessed by an observant bystander over those actually engaged in any transaction. “The looker-on often sees more of the game than the players.” Now the looker-on is precisely (in Greek) ὁ ἄνθρωπος φύσει πολιτικὸν ζῷον the theorist.
When then you find any one contrasting, in this and in other subjects, what he calls experience, with theory, you will usually perceive on attentive examination, that he is in reality comparing the results of a confined, with that of a wider, experience; — a more imperfect and crude theory, with one more cautiously framed, and based on a more copious induction.
Richard Whately, Introductory Lectures on Political Economy (1832), Lecture III.

— Richard Whately

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