In the 19th Century, John Ruskin, an English critic and social theorist said about cost and value:-
"It's unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little.
When you pay too much, you lose a little money-that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot-it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better (in the first place)."
He also said:-
"There is nothing in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and he who considers price only is that man's lawful prey."
Back to IndexThis page added 4/3/2001 RG