James Watt — "I would rather face a loaded cannon than settle a disputed account or make a bar…"
I would rather face a loaded cannon than settle a disputed account or make a bargain.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from James Watt
"My great success in life has been owing to my having paid attention to every detail."
"Every inefficiency in machinery is an insult to the engineer."
"The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what we do here."
"When once the idea of the separate condensation was started, all these improvements followed as corollaries in quick succession, so that in the course of one or two days the invention was thus far com…"
"The people in London are all steam engine mad."
Details
A personal letter to his business partner, Matthew Boulton, revealing his aversion to business dealings.
Date: c. 1775-1800
PhilosophicalVerification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: gemini
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
Watt is saying that financial arguments and business negotiations cause him more dread than standing in front of a cannon. Settling disputes over money or hammering out deals was so stressful and alien to him that he compares it unfavorably to physical danger. It's a blunt confession that confrontational commerce—arguing over bills, bargaining over prices—felt worse than death to someone wired for invention, not negotiation.
Relevance to James Watt
Watt was a mechanical genius who famously loathed the commercial side of his work. He partnered with businessman Matthew Boulton precisely so Boulton could handle sales, contracts, and financial negotiations while Watt engineered. Prone to anxiety and depression, Watt often complained about patent disputes and debt collection. This quote captures his authentic self-awareness: he knew where his gifts lay and felt genuine anguish when forced outside them into commercial bargaining.
The era
Watt worked during Britain's Industrial Revolution, when inventors suddenly had to operate as businessmen—filing patents, enforcing licenses, and collecting royalties. Britain's patent system was costly and contentious; Watt spent enormous energy defending his steam engine patents from infringers. Meanwhile, the Napoleonic Wars made cannon references viscerally real. Commerce was shifting from guild tradition to industrial capitalism, forcing technically-minded craftsmen into unfamiliar financial negotiations they were poorly equipped for culturally and temperamentally.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].