Machlup Fritz Quotes & Sayings

When I reviewed Hayek's book, The Pure Theory of Capital, it is my sincere conviction that this work contains some of the most penetrating thoughts on the subject that have ever been published. — Fritz Machlup

The danger of tautological propositions is considerable in discussions of the concept of normal profits. Because supernormal profits seem to invite newcomers to an industry and sub-normal profits seem to drive away those who are in an industry, some writers are inclined to define normal profits as the earnings of the fixed resources in an industry which neither grows nor declines in size or number of firms. It should be clear that such a definition is useless: it muddles together attractiveness and actual afflux, desirbility of entry and ease of entry, zero profits and monopoly rents. — Fritz Machlup

Information is acquired by being told, whereas knowledge can be acquired by thinking. — Fritz Machlup

our Lord said, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit' (Matt. 5:3), which is to say those who are poor in will. — Meister Eckhart

He looked in her eyes as if trying to tell her he loved her without words. She looked back at him as if to say, I know. — David Soto Jr.

The purpose of art is to raise people to a higher level of awareness than they would otherwise attain on their own. — Brassai

If I get an obit in the Times, they will say, of course, known to millions as Rumpole. — Leo McKern

Wealth is not only what you have but it is also what you are. — Sterling W. Sill

One of the most original and most important ideas advanced by Hayek is the role of the 'division of knowledge' in economic society. — Fritz Machlup

If we did not have a patent system, it would be irresponsible, on the basis of our present knowledge of its economic consequences, to recommend instituting one. But since we have had a patent system for a long time, it would be irresponsible, on the basis of our present knowledge, to recommend abolishing it. — Fritz Machlup

Don't we all have a certain number of images that stay around in our head, which we undoubtedly call memories and improperly so, and which we can never get rid of because they return in our sky with the regularity of a comet - torn away also from a world about which we know almost nothing? They return more frequently than comets do, in fact. It would be better, then, to speak of them as loyal satellites, a bit capricious and therefore even troublesome: they appear, disappear, suddenly come back to badger our memory at night when we cannot sleep. But, little as we may care to, as our hearts tell us to, we can also observe them at will, coldly, scrutinize their shadows, colors, and relief. Only, they are dead stars: from them we shall never grasp anything other than the certainty that we have already seen them, examined them, questioned them without really understanding the laws that the line of their mysterious orbits obeyed. — Marc Auge