Nobody wanted this commercialization of life. - Robert Heilbroner

The basic function of the military — to achieve victory over the enemy — has been rendered obsolete by the fact that "victory" and defeat are almost certain to be achieved simultaneously.

Very few of the heroes of the Golden Age of American finance had much interest in the solid realities of what underlay their structure of stocks and bonds and credits.

The Wealth of Nations may not be an original book, but it is unquestionably a masterpiece.