Progressive societies outgrow institutions as children outgrow clothes.
Henry GeorgeRead
Poorly paid labor is inefficient labor, the world over.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Low wages lead to lower productivity in the workforce.
Henry George highlights the relationship between fair compensation and labor efficiency. He suggests that when workers are paid poorly, their motivation and productivity diminish, which ultimately affects overall economic performance across the globe.
Themes
LaborEfficiencyWagesProductivityEconomics
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a labor conference uses this quote to emphasize the importance of fair wages for economic growth.
More from Henry George
All quotes βThe march of invention has clothed mankind with powers of which a century ago the boldest imagination could not have dreamt.
Henry GeorgeRead
It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve.
Henry GeorgeRead
The protection of the masses has in all times been the pretense of tyranny - the plea of monarchy, of aristocracy, of special privilege of every kind. The slave owners justified slavery as protecting the slaves.
Henry GeorgeRead
So long as all the increased wealth which modern progress brings goes but to build up great fortunes, to increase luxury and make sharper the contrast between the House of Have and the House of Want, progress is not real and cannot be permanent.
Henry GeorgeRead
Compare society to a boat. Her progress through the water will not depend upon the exertion of her crew, but upon the exertion devoted to propelling her. This will be lessened by any expenditure of force in fighting among themselves, or in pulling in different directions.
Henry GeorgeRead
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