Inventors and Money-makers: Lectures on Some Relations Between Economics and Psychology Delivered at Brown University in Connection with the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Foundation of the University |
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64-66 Fifth Avenue activity Adam Smith additional wealth altruism animals associationists biographies Bourgeois BROWN UNIVERSITY Business is busi capitalist captain of industry Cartwright chase COMPANY Publishers 64-66 concerns conduct devices direction disposition doubt doubtless economic economist Edison employer emulation enterprise Ericsson feel feudal Fulton gain give Graham Wallas human happiness human nature immense impulse inborn influence instinct of contrivance instinct of curiosity instinct of devotion instinct of domination instinct of play interest invention inventors James Watt labor leaders less machine MACMILLAN COMPANY Publishers manifestations mechanical ment modern money-making Morse motives ness organization overmastering ownership patent pecuniary person present discussion problem propensity to truck psychology Publishers 64-66 Fifth pugnacity regards remarked S. F. B. Morse satisfaction scheme scientific scope seems social Sombart sort spirit spontaneous stage stinct sympathy tion topics trait true instinct turned utilitarians voting trusts Wallas Watt
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Page 51 - By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security ; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain; and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.
Page 9 - Wellington is supposed to have said that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.
Page 2 - It is the necessary, though very slow and gradual consequence of a certain propensity in human nature which has in view no such extensive utility; the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another. Whether this propensity be one of those original principles in human nature of which no further account can be given; or whether, as seems more probable, it be the necessary consequences of the faculties of reason and speech, it belongs not to our present subject to inquire.
Page 48 - It will give a cheap and quick conveyance to the merchandise on the Mississippi, Missouri, and other great rivers, which are now laying open their treasures to the enterprise of our countrymen ; and although the prospect of personal emolument has been some inducement to me, yet I feel infinitely more pleasure in reflecting on the immense advantage that my country will derive from the invention,
Page 1 - THIS DIVISION of labour, from which so many advantages are derived, is not originally the effect of any human wisdom, which foresees and intends that general opulence to which it gives occasion. It is the necessary, though very slow and gradual, consequence of a certain propensity in human nature which has in view no such extensive utility — the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another.
Page 25 - He made bread in his own kitchen by machinery ; published a scheme for rendering houses fire-proof ; invented bricks on a geometrical system ; made a machine for biscuit-baking ; helped Fulton with his first steam-ship models ; brought chemistry to bear upon the science of agriculture ; introduced a new three-furrow plough ; got the Agricultural Board's gold medal for experiments in manure, and their silver medal for an essay on the culture of potatoes ; and obtained patents for calendering linens,...
Page 101 - The rich man consumes no more food than his poor neighbor. In quality it may be very different, and to select and prepare it may require more labour and art; but in quantity it is very nearly the same — The desire of food is limited in every man by the narrow capacity of the human stomach.
Page 21 - One thing stands out conspicuously : The race of contrivers and inventors does obey an inborn and irresistible impulse. Schemes and experiments begin in childhood, and persist so long as life and strength hold. It matters not whether a fortune is made or pecuniary distress is chronic. There is increasing interest in new dodges, increasing trial of new devices.
Page 16 - Mr. Edison and I were on our way from the cement plant at New Village, New Jersey, to his home at Orange. When we arrived at Dover, New Jersey, we got a New York newspaper, and I called his attention to the quotation of that day on General Electric. Mr. Edison then asked, 'If I hadn't sold any of mine, what would it be worth today?' and after some figuring I replied, 'Over four million dollars/ When Mr.