Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Value depends on scarcity and context; common things can be more useful than rare ones.
In plain terms
Silver is better than gold when you need a lot of it.
What can you take from it?
Consider practical utility over intrinsic rarity when assessing value.

Where it applies

  • budgeting
  • resource allocation
  • negotiation

Putting it to work

  • prioritize utility
  • evaluate context

Questions to consider

  • What determines value?
  • When is common better than rare?

Another view

Some contexts still demand rarity regardless of utility.

More from Gilbert Keith Chesterton

  1. His head was always most valuable when he had lost it. In such moments he put two and two together and made four million.

    Permalink to quote #138
  2. Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil.

    Permalink to quote #140
  3. If you know what a man's doing, get in front of him; but if you want to guess what he's doing keep behind him.

    Permalink to quote #137

Related quotes

  1. The 'value' or 'worth' of a man is, as of all other things, his price; that is to say, so much as would be given for the use of his power.

    Thomas HobbesThomas Hobbes quote #15
  2. Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.

    John Kenneth GalbraithJohn Kenneth Galbraith quote #67
  3. Only a fool thinks price and value are the same.

    Antonio MachadoAntonio Machado quote #1