James Watt — "I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER."
I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER.
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
"I can think of nothing else than this machine."
"About 6 or 8 years ago My Ingenious friend Mr John Robinson having [contrived] conceived that a fire engine might be made without a Lever—by Inverting the Cylinder & placing it above the mouth of the …"
"I have made an engine that shall not waste a single particle of steam."
"I have spent more time fixing other men's mistakes than making my own."
"one of the most ingenious, simple pieces of mechanism I have contrived."
Details
Quoted by Matthew Boulton to James Boswell, referring to Watt's improved steam engine and its production at Boulton's manufactory.
Date: 1776
PhilosophicalVerification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: gemini
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
The speaker boldly declares that mechanical power itself is the ultimate commodity—something every industry, every nation, every ambitious person craves. By naming POWER as the product, the quote cuts through technical jargon to the essential promise: control over nature's forces, the ability to multiply human effort indefinitely. It frames steam not as a machine but as a universal desire finally available for purchase.
Relevance to James Watt
Watt devoted his career to making steam power practical and commercially viable, partnering with Matthew Boulton at Soho Manufactory to sell engines on fuel-savings royalties. He invented the unit 'horsepower' explicitly to help customers quantify what they were buying. This quote crystallizes his insight that he wasn't selling iron cylinders—he was selling productive capacity itself, echoing his lifelong obsession with efficiency and measurable mechanical output.
The era
Britain in the 1770s–1800s was draining deep coal mines, expanding textile mills, and racing to mechanize every trade. Human and horse labor had hard physical ceilings; water wheels were geographically constrained. Steam promised unlimited, relocatable power at a moment when empire and commerce demanded scale never before imagined. Whoever controlled mechanical power controlled industrial output, national wealth, and ultimately geopolitical dominance—making Watt's boast literally world-historical.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].