Quotes from Thorstein Veblen

Beauty is commonly a gratification of our sense of costliness masquerading under the name of beauty.

The aesthetic serviceability of objects of beauty is not greatly nor universally heightened by possession.

It is always sound business to take any obtainable net gain, at any cost, and at any risk to the rest of the community.

With the exception of the instinct of self-preservation, the propensity for emulation is probably the strongest and most alert and persistent of the economic motives proper.

The thief or swindler who has gained great wealth by his delinquency has a better chance than the small thief of escaping the rigorous penalty of the law.