A Quote by Cato the Elder

Buy not what you want, but what you have need of; what you do not want is dear at a farthing. — © Cato the Elder
Buy not what you want, but what you have need of; what you do not want is dear at a farthing.

Quote Topics

Quote Author

The miserable man makes a peny of a farthing, and the liberall of a farthing sixe pence. [The miserable man maketh a penny of a farthing, and the liberal of a farthing sixpence.]
They don't want art that might actually change the community. They just want consumers. They don't want people to manufacture things. They'll do the manufacturing, and they just need people to buy it, need youth to buy it.
Industry prospers when it offers people articles which they want more than they want anything they now have. The fact is that people never buy what they need. They buy what they want.
In Florida, to buy a gun, you do not need a permit, you do not need a gun license, and once you buy it, you do not need to register it. You do not need a permit to carry a concealed rifle or shotgun. You can buy as many guns as you want at one time.
Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.
Never buy a thing you don't want merely because it is dear.
I get up in the morning, do my e-mail, I check my e-mails all day. I'll go online and I'll buy my books at Amazon.com, but I don't want to buy all of them because I want to go to Duttons and I want to buy books from another human being.
That's what I strive for every time I'm in the studio, to make sure that y'all love it and that I'm not giving y'all something I'm expecting you to buy. I want y'all to want to buy it and want to hear it again. If you like it, go get it, if you don't, throw it out.
Sometimes when I walk into one of my own stores, I look at the display and say, "This looks so good - I want to buy it." Yet other times I walk in and the displays and mannequins will be all wrong, and I don't want to buy anything. When a customer walks into a store, she's looking for inspiration. So I'm tuned in to people, and I care about what they need and who they are.
I’m not at peace anymore. I just want him like I used to in the old days. I want to be eating sandwiches with him. I want to be drinking with him in a bar. I’m tired and I don’t want anymore pain. I want Maurice. I want ordinary corrupt human love. Dear God, you know I want to want Your pain, but I don’t want it now. Take it away for a while and give it me another time.
People rarely buy what they need. They buy what they want.
I want to see all the countries in the world and learn all the languages. I want to have thousands of friends and I want all my friends to be different. I want to play six instruments. I want to be the best in the world at two things. I want to be a great athlete and I want to be a great surgeon. I need to practice very hard every day. I need to sleep as little as possible. I need to read at least one major book every week. And I need to remember that my seventy years are going to go by too quickly.
I'm delighted to be Number 1, but next week I don't want people to buy my record, I want them to buy Band Aid.
Everyone asks, 'What's your goal? Do you want to win an Oscar? Do you want to work with Meryl Streep?' No! I want to buy my mum a house. I want to make her proud.
Buy, buy, buy, buy! They want to grab you and trap you and turn you into little Elizabeth Hurleys.
Thousands of salespeople are pounding the pavements today, tired, discouraged and underpaid. Why? Because they are always thinking only of what they want. They don't realize that neither you nor I want to buy anything. If we did, we would go out and buy it. But both of us are eternally interested in solving our problems. And if salespeople can show us how their services or merchandise will help us solve our problems, they won't need to sell us. We'll buy. And customers like to feel that they are buying - not being sold.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!