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Quotation from Principles of Political Economy by John Stuart Mill
“The laws and conditions of the Production of wealth partake of the character of physical truths. There is nothing optional or arbitrary in them.”
Principles of Political Economy, Book II, Chapter I: Of property (Principles of Political Economy, 7th ed. (1871), ed. W. J. Ashley (London: Longmans, Green, 1909), via the Online Library of Liberty)
The opening of Book II, where Mill contrasts production, governed by the nature of things, with distribution, which depends on human choice.
Citation: "The laws and conditions of the Production of wealth partake of the character of physical truths. There is nothing optional or arbitrary in them." — John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, Chapter I: Of property (Principles of Political Economy, 7th ed. (1871), ed. W. J. Ashley (London: Longmans, Green, 1909), via the Online Library of Liberty). (id mill-principles-of-political-economy-q1)
