John Bates Clark

“Profit is the lure that insures progress.”

“The distribution of the income of society is controlled by a natural law, and this law, if it worked without friction, would give to every agent of production the amount of wealth which that agent creates.”

“Competition is the law of life and the soul of business.”

“It is the purpose of this work to show that the distribution of the income of society is controlled by a natural law.”

“The normal tendency of competition is to give to labor what labor creates, to capitalists what capital creates, and to entrepreneurs what the coordinating function creates.”

“Every man has a right to what he creates.”

“The great single agent of progress is competition.”

“A dynamic state is one in which the elements are changing, in which population and capital are growing, in which processes of production are being improved.”

“Capital is a fund, and interest is a flow.”

“The welfare of the laboring classes depends on whether they get much or little; but their attitude toward other classes depends chiefly on the question, whether the amount that they get is what they produce.”

“The entrepreneur's function is to hire and direct the productive factors.”