Shopkeepers Quotes

• England is a nation of shopkeepers.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Business, Insulting, England

  Quoted in Barry E. O'Meara, Napoleon in Exile (1822). The Pennsylvania Gazette, 20 Aug. 1794, prints "Barrere's Report of the Naval Action of the 1st of June" to the National Convention of France, 16 June. Included in this report is the sentence: "Let Pitt then boast of this victory of his nation of shop-keepers (national boutiquiere.)" The author was revolutionary and legislator Bertrand Barrere. See Adam Smith 7; Josiah Tucker 1

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• Goods are displayed by thousands of shopkeepers with a sense of beauty that finds no other outlet.

  Mignon McLaughlin

  Outlets, Goods, Commerce

  Mignon McLaughlin (2014). “Aperçus: The Aphorisms of Mignon McLaughlin”, p.58, BookBaby

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• Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out.

  Terry Pratchett

  Struggle, Fantasy, Discworld

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• We are indeed a nation of shopkeepers.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  England, Nations

  Benjamin Disraeli (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Benjamin Disraeli (Illustrated)”, p.611, Delphi Classics

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• Daily life is better when it involves interactions with real people who have a personal investment in their labour, like shopkeepers, than it is with someone 'just doing my job' or the infernal self-checkout machine.

  Julian Baggini

  Jobs, Real, Self

  "Why business needs to concentrate on value - not just profit". www.theguardian.com. February 28, 2013.

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• Christmas is forced upon a reluctant and disgusted nation by the shopkeepers and the press; on its own merits it would wither and shrivel in the fiery breath of universal hatred.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Christmas, Hatred, Sausage

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• I probably wanted to be a shopkeeper, because I like tills.

  Luke Evans

  Wanted

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• One aspect of modern life which has gone far to stifle men is the rapid growth of tremendous corporations. Enormous spiritual sacrifices are made in the transformation of shopkeepers into employees... The disappearance of free enterprise has led to a submergence of the individual in the impersonal corporation in much the same manner as he has been submerged in the state in other lands.

  William O. Douglas

  Spiritual, Sacrifice, Men

  William O. Douglas' speech at annual dinner of Fordham University Alumni Association in New York City, February 9, 1939.

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• A man walks into a pet shop and says: "Give me a wasp." The shopkeeper replies: "We don't sell wasps." He says: "There's one in the window."

  Frank Carson

  Funny, Humor, Men

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• Some will tell you that you are mad, and nearly all will say, 'What is the use?' For we are a nation of shopkeepers, and no shopkeeper will look at research which will not promise him a financial return within a year. And so you will sledge nearly alone, but those with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers: that is worth a good deal. If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg.

  Apsley Cherry-Garrard

  Winter, Journey, Years

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• Growing up, I knew you were supposed to have a profession - and something better than being a shopkeeper, which is what my parents were.

  Les Wexner

  Growing Up, Parent, Something Better

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• Shopkeepers are not bankers.

  Laurent Fabius

  Bankers

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• Inside every sane person there's a madman struggling to get out," said the shopkeeper. "That's what I've always thought. No one goes mad quicker than a totally sane person.

  Terry Pratchett

  Struggle, Mad, Sanity

  "The Light Fantastic". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1986.

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• A nation of shopkeepers are very seldom so disinterested.

  Samuel Adams

  Disinterested, Nations

  'Oration in Philadelphia' 1 August 1776 (the authenticity of this publication is doubtful).

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• He turned and reached behind him for the chocolate bar, then he turned back again and handed it to Charlie. Charlie grabbed it and quickly tore off the wrapper and took an enormous bite. Then he took another…and another…and oh, the joy of being able to cram large pieces of something sweet and solid into one's mouth! The sheer blissful joy of being able to fill one's mouth with rich solid food! 'You look like you wanted that one, sonny,' the shopkeeper said pleasantly. Charlie nodded, his mouth bulging with chocolate.

  Roald Dahl

  Sweet, Joy, Chocolate

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• I'm doing exactly what I was supposed to do. Yeah. I didn't exactly choose this. My own life, if it were up to me, would be very, very quiet. I'd be like a shopkeeper, a book collector, or something like that. I'm not like this. Myself as a performer and an artist is totally different from who I am.

  Mos Def

  Book, Artist, Who I Am

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

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• If the British are a nation of shopkeepers, Americans are a nation of shoppers.

  Ada Louise Huxtable

  Shopping, United States, British

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• Rather than earn money, it was Thoreau's idea to reduce his wants so that he would not need to buy anything. As he went around preaching this ingenious idea, the shopkeepers of Concord hoped he would drop dead.

  Richard Armour

  Money, Ideas, Needs

  Richard Armour (1970). “American Lit Relit”

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• I kind of like the idea of living a rather ordinary life as a shopkeeper, and I examine that possibility as one of the outcomes of the young Gerald Bostock growing older.

  Ian Anderson

  Ideas, Ordinary, Growing

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• I wonder what memories of yours will persist as you go on in life. My hunch is that the most important will have to do with feelings of loving and being loved - friends, family, teachers, shopkeepers - whoever's been close to you. As you continue to grow, you'll find many ways of expressing your love and you'll discover more and more ways in which others express their love for you.

  Fred Rogers

  Teacher, Memories, Feelings

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• Noooo, there’s no way I, a mere handsome and sexy shopkeeper, could possibly have bankai!

  Tite Kubo

  Sexy, Bleach, Handsome

  "Bleach". Manga by Tite Kubo, 2001 - 2016.

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• To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but extremely fit for a nation whose government is influenced by shopkeepers.

  Adam Smith

  Government, Sight, People

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 2, bk. 4, ch. 7 (1776). Other quotation compilations have this ending with "whose government is influenced by shopkeepers," but the first edition reads as above. See Napoleon 5; Josiah Tucker 1

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• [Margaret Thatcher] scorned and despised other women, and predicated her values entirely on the values of her father, a small town shopkeeper.

  Hilary Mantel

  Father, Towns, Small Town

  Source: newrepublic.com

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• If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg.

  Apsley Cherry-Garrard

  Winter, Journey, Eggs

  Apsley Cherry-Garrard (2013). “The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctica, 1910-1913”, p.463, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Our civility, England determines the style of, inasmuch as England is the strongest of the family of existing nations, and as we are the expansion of that people. It is that of a trading nation; it is a shopkeeping civility. The English lord is a retired shopkeeper, and has the prejudices and timidities of that profession.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  People, Style, Expansion

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, David Mikics (2012). “The Annotated Emerson”, p.310, Harvard University Press

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