Who said “It is always sound business to take any obtainable net gain, at any cost and at any risk…”?

Verified

Thorstein Veblen. A published source records them saying or writing it.

SourceAbsentee Ownership (1923)

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“It is always sound business to take any obtainable net gain, at any cost and at any risk to the rest of the community.”
— Thorstein Veblen
VerifiedAbsentee Ownership (1923) · evidenceGain

Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: Absentee Ownership (1923).

APA

Veblen, T. (n.d.). It is always sound business to take any obtainable net gain, at any cost and at any risk to the rest of the community. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/19437-it-is-always-sound-business-to-take-any/

MLA

Veblen, Thorstein. “It is always sound business to take any obtainable net gain, at any cost and at any risk to the rest of the community.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/19437-it-is-always-sound-business-to-take-any/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Veblen, Thorstein. “It is always sound business to take any obtainable net gain, at any cost and at any risk to the rest of the community.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/19437-it-is-always-sound-business-to-take-any/.

Related quotes

“No gain is so certain as that which proceeds from the economical use of what you already have.”
— Latin Proverb
Gain

More quotes by Thorstein Veblen

“In order to stand well in the eyes of the community, it is necessary to come up to a certain, somewhat indefinite, conventional standard of wealth.”
VerifiedThe Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) · evidenceDetails & citeCommunities
“The basis on which good repute in any highly organized industrial community ultimately rests is pecuniary strength; and the means of showing pecuniary strength, and so of gaining or retaining a good name, are leisure and a conspicuous consumption of goods”
Leisure
All 3 Thorstein Veblen quotes →