---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Economy is a distributive virtue, and…"
description: "\"Economy is a distributive virtue, and consists not in saving but in selection.\" — Edmund Burke"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e71/edmund-burke-400_economics_economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-con_2313364.jpg"
---

#  Economy is a distributive virtue, and consists not in…

![“Economy is a distributive virtue, and consists not in saving but in selection.” quote by Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e71/edmund-burke-400_economics_economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-con_2313364.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e71/edmund-burke-400_economics_economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-con_2313364.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e71/edmund-burke-400_economics_economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-con_2313364.jpg)

> “Economy is a distributive virtue, and consists not in saving but in selection.”

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Economic virtue lies in wisely choosing where to allocate resources, not merely in saving money.

**In simple terms:** Choose wisely, not just save.

Key Takeaway

Allocate resources wisely.

Themes

economics virtue selection

Mood

analytical thoughtful

Type

philosophical inspirational

When to use this quote

- budgeting
- investment decisions
- charitable giving

Key Concepts

resource allocation ethical consumption financial planning

Questions to Reflect On

- What criteria guide your selections?
- How can you balance saving with purposeful spending?

A Different Perspective

Saving without thoughtful selection can be wasteful.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Economics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/) [Economy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economy/) [Parsimony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parsimony/) [Saving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/saving/) [Thrift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thrift/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/)

## Related quotes

> [Economy is a distributive virtue, and consists not in saving but selection. Parsimony requires no providence, no sagacity, no powers of combination, no comparison,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-consists-not-in-saving-but/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy. If parsimony were to be considered as one of the kinds of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/expense-and-great-expense-may-be-an-essential-part-in-true-economy-if/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [Mere parsimony is not economy. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/mere-parsimony-is-not-economy-expense-and-great-expense-may-be-an/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/virtue-consists-not-in-abstaining-from-vice-but-in-not-desiring-it/)

[George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/)

> [Virtue consists in fleeing vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/virtue-consists-in-fleeing-vice/)

[Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/)

> [The whole of virtue consists in its practice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/the-whole-of-virtue-consists-in-its-practice/)

[Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/)

> [Virtue consists in doing our duty in the several relations we sustain, in respect to ourselves, to our fellowmen, and to God, as known…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/archibald-alexander/virtue-consists-in-doing-our-duty-in-the-several-relations-we-sustain/)

[Archibald Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/archibald-alexander/)

> [ Virtue consists in avoiding vice, and is the highest wisdom. \[Lat., Virtus est vitium fugere, et sapientia prima.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/virtue-consists-in-avoiding-vice-and-is-the-highest-wisdom-lat-virtus/)

[Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/)

> [The height and value of true virtue consists in the facility, utility, and pleasure of its exercise; so far from difficulty, that boys, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/the-height-and-value-of-true-virtue-consists-in-the-facility-utility/)

[Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/)

> [To many people virtue consists chiefly in repenting faults, not in avoiding them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-c-lichtenberg/to-many-people-virtue-consists-chiefly-in-repenting-faults-not-in/)

[Georg C. Lichtenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-c-lichtenberg/)

> [Virtue consists in avoiding scandal and venereal disease.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-cecil-1st-earl-of-salisbury/virtue-consists-in-avoiding-scandal-and-venereal-disease/)

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury

> [“Virtue consists not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it.” She”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-wiltz/virtue-consists-not-in-abstaining-from-vice-but-in-not-desiring-it-she/)

Christine Wiltz

> [Many people think that virtue consists of severity towards others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alphonse-karr/many-people-think-that-virtue-consists-of-severity-towards-others/)

[Alphonse Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alphonse-karr/)

> [There is nothing worse than being ashamed of parsimony or poverty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/livy/there-is-nothing-worse-than-being-ashamed-of-parsimony-or-poverty/)

[Livy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/livy/)

> [While society cannot provide employment for its members, the production/work/income nexus has to be abandoned as a justification for our present parsimony to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hawke/while-society-cannot-provide-employment-for-its-members-the/)

[Bob Hawke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hawke/)

## More by Edmund Burke

> [It is the interest of the commercial world that wealth should be found everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/it-is-the-interest-of-the-commercial-world-that-wealth-should-be/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [“Many of the greatest tyrants on the records of history have begun their reigns in the fairest manner. But the truth is, this unnatural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/many-of-the-greatest-tyrants-on-the-records-of-history-have-begun/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up the constitution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/in-this-choice-of-inheritance-we-have-given-to-our-frame-of-polity/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [“Wise men will apply their remedies to vices, not to names; to the causes of evil which are permanent, not to the occasional organs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/wise-men-will-apply-their-remedies-to-vices-not-to-names-to-the/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [“A man full of warm, speculative benevolence may wish his society otherwise constituted than he finds it; but a good patriot, and a true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/a-man-full-of-warm-speculative-benevolence-may-wish-his-society/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [My vigour relents. I pardon something to the spirit of liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/my-vigour-relents-i-pardon-something-to-the-spirit-of-liberty/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [A speculative despair is unpardonable where it our duty to act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/a-speculative-despair-is-unpardonable-where-it-our-duty-to-act/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [The great must submit to the dominion of prudence and of virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of thegreat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-great-must-submit-to-the-dominion-of-prudence-and-of-virtue-or/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/those-who-have-been-once-intoxicated-with-power-and-have-derived-any/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [What is it we all seek for in an election? To answer its real purposes, you must first possess the means of knowing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/what-is-it-we-all-seek-for-in-an-election-to-answer-its-real-purposes/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [Society is indeed a contract. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/society-is-indeed-a-contract-it-is-a-partnership-in-all-science-a/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [You can never plan the future by the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/you-can-never-plan-the-future-by-the-past/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [The great inlet by which a colour for oppression has entered into the world is by one man's pretending to determine concerning the happiness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-great-inlet-by-which-a-colour-for-oppression-has-entered-into-the/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [By the disposition of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race, the whole, at one time, is never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/by-the-disposition-of-a-stupendous-wisdom-moulding-together-the-great/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

> [Religion, to have any force upon men's understandings,--indeed, to exist at all,--must be supposed paramount to law, and independent for its substance upon any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/religion-to-have-any-force-upon-men-s-understandings-indeed-to-exist/)

[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

[Explore all 595 Edmund Burke quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

## More Economics quotes

> [Don't let's lose sight of what creates wealth. It is open markets, it is capitalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/don-t-let-s-lose-sight-of-what-creates-wealth-it-is-open-markets-it/)

[Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/)

> [Crony capitalism is essentially a condition in which... public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/crony-capitalism-is-essentially-a-condition-in-which-public-officials/)

[Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/)

> [Our biggest challenge is to eliminate the popular perception that economists don't have anything useful to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-zandi/our-biggest-challenge-is-to-eliminate-the-popular-perception-that/)

[Mark Zandi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-zandi/)

> [Advances in technology will continue to reach far into every sector of our economy. Future job and economic growth in industry, defense, transportation, agriculture,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-bond/advances-in-technology-will-continue-to-reach-far-into-every-sector/)

[Christopher Bond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-bond/)

> [Our engagement through international economics, trade, these trade agreements, is vital and is linked to our national security. This is a lesson we learned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-boustany/our-engagement-through-international-economics-trade-these-trade/)

[Charles Boustany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-boustany/)

> [“The free-market economy and globalisation process have brought about, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, a sharp and sudden rise in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yaakov-malkin/the-free-market-economy-and-globalisation-process-have-brought-about/)

Yaakov Malkin

> [“Everything economic science posits as given, that is, the range of dispositions of the economic agent which ground the illusion of the ahistorical universality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/everything-economic-science-posits-as-given-that-is-the-range-of/)

[Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/)

> [Politics is about power. It is about the power of the state. It is about the power of the state as applied to individuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-rudd/politics-is-about-power-it-is-about-the-power-of-the-state-it-is/)

[Kevin Rudd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-rudd/)

> [Having an economy that works for the 99% is achievable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winnie-byanyima/having-an-economy-that-works-for-the-99-is-achievable/)

[Winnie Byanyima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winnie-byanyima/)

> [“a select group of high-performing companies have managed to close the strategy-to-performance gap through better planning and execution. These companies—Barclays, Cisco Systems, Dow Chemical,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-c-mankins/a-select-group-of-high-performing-companies-have-managed-to-close-the/)

[Michael C. Mankins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-c-mankins/)

> [The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-august-von-hayek/the-system-of-private-property-is-the-most-important-guaranty-of/)

[Friedrich August von Hayek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-august-von-hayek/)

> [Economists think about what people ought to do. Psychologists watch what they actually do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-kahneman/economists-think-about-what-people-ought-to-do-psychologists-watch/)

[Daniel Kahneman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-kahneman/)

> [The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/the-politician-attempts-to-remedy-the-evil-by-increasing-the-very/)

[Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/)

> [“Economists have a singular method of procedure. There are only two kinds of institutions for them, artificial and natural. The institutions of feudalism are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/economists-have-a-singular-method-of-procedure-there-are-only-two/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [As the variable capital always stays in the hands of the capitalist in some form or other, it cannot be claimed in any way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/as-the-variable-capital-always-stays-in-the-hands-of-the-capitalist/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

[Browse all 7,788 Economics quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Economy is a distributive virtue, and consists not in saving but in selection.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Edmund Burke"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-consists-not-in-saving-but-in/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Economics"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-consists-not-in-saving-but-in/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e71/edmund-burke-400_economics_economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-con_2313364.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e71/edmund-burke-400_economics_economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-con_2313364.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e71/edmund-burke-400_economics_economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-con_2313364.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Economy is a distributive virtue, and consists not in saving but in selection.” — Edmund Burke",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Edmund Burke",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Economy is a distributive virtue, and...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-consists-not-in-saving-but-in/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/economy-is-a-distributive-virtue-and-consists-not-in-saving-but-in/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
