"To suppose all consumers to be dupes, and all merchants and manufacturers to be cheats, has the effect of authorizing them to be so, and of degrading all the working members of the community."
—A.R.J. Turgot (1727-1781)
“Respect is tendered with pleasure only where it is not exacted.”
—A.R.J. Turgot (1727-1781)
“The expenses of government, having for their object the interests of all, should be borne by every one, and the more a man enjoys the advantages of society, the more he ought to hold himself honoured in contributing to these expenses.”
—A.R.J. Turgot (1727-1781)
“Eripuit coele fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis,” or from Latin to English “He snatched the lightning from the skies and the scepter from the tyrants.”
—A.R.J. Turgot (1727-1781)
"It is not error which opposes the progress of truth; it is indolence, obstinacy, the spirit of routine, every thing which favors inaction."
—A.R.J. Turgot (1727-1781)
"Scrupulous people are not suited to great affairs."
—A.R.J. Turgot (1727-1781)
"All merchandize has the two essential properties of money, to measure and to represent all value: and in this sense all merchandize is money."
—A.R.J. Turgot (1727-1781)
"Everywhere the strong have made the laws and oppressed the weak; and, if they have sometimes consulted the interests of society, they have always forgotten those of humanity."
—A.R.J. Turgot (1727-1781)