The cure for capitalism's failing would require that a government would have to rise above the interests of one class alone.

Smith, as we have said, was not the proponent of any one class. He was a slave to his system. His whole economic philosophy stemmed from his unquestioning faith in the ability of the market to guide the system to its point of highest return. The market — that wonderful social machine — would take care of society's needs if it was left alone. "Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production," he wrote.

Veblen once asked a religious student the value of her church in kegs of beer.

If one could divine the nature of the economic forces in the world, one could foretell the future.

We cannot help living in history. We can only fail to be aware of it.

As the histories of ancient and modern democracies illustrate, the pressure of political movement in times of war, civil commotion, or general anxiety pushes in the direction of authority, not away from it.

One accumulates or one gets accumulated.