William Graham Sumner Quotes & Sayings (Page 3)

“If I want to be free from any other man's dictation, I must understand that I can have no other man under my control.”

“It is often said that the earth belongs to the race, as if raw land was a boon, or gift.”

“The criminal law needs to be improved to meet new forms of crime, but to denounce financial devices which are useful and legitimate because use is made of them for fraud, is ridiculous and unworthy of the age in which we live.”

“There is every indication that we are to see new developments of the power of aggregated capital to serve civilization, and that the new developments will be made right here in America.”

“We are to see the development of the country pushed forward at an unprecedented rate by an aggregation of capital, and a systematic application of it under the direction of competent men.”

“Joint-stock companies are yet in their infancy, and incorporated capital, instead of being a thing which can be overturned, is a thing which is becoming more and more indispensable.”

“Labor organizations are formed, not to employ combined effort for a common object, but to indulge in declamation and denunciation, and especially to furnish an easy living to some officers who do not want to work.”

“We throw all our attention on the utterly idle question whether A has done as well as B, when the only question is whether A has done as well as he could.”

“There ought to be no laws to guarantee property against the folly of its possessors.”

“Civil liberty is the status of the man who is guaranteed by law and civil institutions the exclusive employment of all his own powers for his own welfare.”