François Quesnay
French economist who created the Tableau Économique, modeling economic flows.
Most quoted
"Let there be full freedom of commerce; for the surest, the most exact, the most profitable, to the nation and to the sovereign, internal and external police of commerce, is the freedom of competition."
— from Tableau Économique, 1758
"The nation is reduced to three classes of citizens: the productive class, the sterile class, and the proprietary class."
— from Tableau Économique, 1758
"The sterile class is composed of all citizens occupied in other services and works than those of agriculture."
— from Tableau Économique, 1758
All quotes by François Quesnay (105)
Despotism, when enlightened, can be the guardian of natural order.
In the grand tableau of economy, every class has its role, but agriculture reigns supreme.
Let reason guide policy, not caprice or prejudice.
The net product of the land is the measure of a nation's wealth.
Commerce without agriculture is like a tree without roots.
The physiocratic order is the divine order made manifest in human affairs.
Banish monopolies and guilds; let free exchange prevail.
Life's true meaning lies in contributing to the natural cycle of production.
The economist's art is to observe nature's laws and advise accordingly.
Riches flow from the soil; all else is illusion.
In unity with nature, we find prosperity; in opposition, ruin.
The single tax on land rent is the just and efficient tribute to the sovereign.
Humor in economics? Why, the merchant who thinks he creates wealth is the greatest jest.
As I near my end, I see the tableau complete: nature's bounty eternal.
Grain markets should be free, lest famine mock our laws.
Philosophy teaches us that the earth's produce is sacred.
The sterile class labors in vain if not fed by the productive.
Wisdom dictates: cultivate the land, and wisdom will follow.
Politics divorced from economics is but empty rhetoric.
In my youth, I painted bodies; in age, I chart economies.
Contemporaries of François Quesnay
Other Economicss born within 50 years of François Quesnay (1694–1774).