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Money will accomplish much in business, love and war but it isn't worth a cent in nature. You could plant all the doubloons lost in the Spanish Main on a New England farm and you would not raise a single ear of corn the more therefor. You could take the golden eagles of America and put them in the alfalfa fields of Indiana and you would not get a single blade more of grass. The moral is that nature has her own way of fixing valuation; and her valuation is the way of return made from the soil. She does not care the least what men may say, by way of trade and barter, that she is worth. Her worth in her own scales consists in her ability to produce something that will minister to the needs, the comforts and even to the luxuries of her children.

Thomas R. Marshall#1

AgricultureMoneyNatureValueWealth

About this quote

What does it mean?
Money has little value in nature; true worth lies in the soil's ability to produce what is needed.
In plain terms
Money doesn't grow crops; the land's value is what it produces.
What can you take from it?
Nature's value is in its ability to sustain life, not currency.

Where it applies

  • agriculture
  • economic discussion
  • environmental views

Putting it to work

  • value resources over currency
  • appreciate nature
  • support agriculture

Questions to consider

  • What is true wealth?
  • How does nature define value?

Another view

Economic systems often prioritize monetary value over natural value.

More from Thomas R. Marshall

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  2. There was not one of my blood, in or out of the Union Army who was not either serving and sacrificing at home or suffering and dying among the hills and valley…

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  3. The labor unions of Indiana proceeded to meet and resolve. They resolved in such violent and vicious language that no partisan press could be found willing to …

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