Eric Roll, Baron Roll of Ipsden

"Mill sought to strengthen his defence of trade unions not by denying their possible monopoly effects, but by an appeal to the principle of laisser faire itself. To prevent the formation of corporate unions was, he thought, to interfere with a right obviously included in the general rule of freedom of contract. While monopolies were only to be abolished if corporations were not free to contract as they pleased, rather be obliged to involve consideration."

"Aristotle laid the foundation of the distinction between use-value and exchange-value, which has remained a part of economic thought to the present day."

"The merchant and the industrialist."

"Profit can only arise upon alienation, i.e. in the act of exchange, when the seller sells more dearly than he has bought gaining profits and enabling a procurement adequate to demands and return on investments."

"Whatever his merits as an economist, Humes place as one of the foremost exponents of capitalism is clearly established. His views on the landed interest and his recognition of self-interest and his desire for accumulation as the driving forces of economic activity in his time helped to consolidate the forces that were struggling to add political power to the economic supremacy which they had already achieved."

"Adam Smith himself was under no allusion about the desire of individuals, particularly business men, to create privileged positions for themselves. While historically wealth was limited to title and impassable to peasantry."