The method I take to do this is not yet very usual; for instead of using only comparative and superlative Words, and intellectual Arguments, I have taken the course (as a Specimen of the Political Arithmetic I have long aimed at) to express myself in Terms of Number, Weight, or Measure; to use only Arguments of Sense, and to consider only such Causes, as have visible Foundations in Nature.
William PettyFor every Seaman of Industry and Ingenuity, is not only a Navigator, but a Merchant, and also a Soldier.
William PettyNo man pays double or twice for the same thing, forasmuch as nothing can be spent but once.
William PettyA thousand acres that can feed a thousand souls is better than ten thousand acres of no more effect.
William PettyIt were good to know how much hay an acre of every sort will bear; how many cattle the same weight of each sort of hay will feed and fatten; what quantity of grain and other commodities the same acre will bear in one, three or seven years; unto what use each soil is proper; all which particulars I call intrinsic value, for there is also another value merely accidental or extrinsic.
William Petty