--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Socialism is a dead horse." description: "\"Socialism is a dead horse.\" — Thorstein Veblen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/thorstein-veblen-10833_dead-horse_socialism-is-a-dead-horse-1696859_1696859.jpg" --- # Socialism is a dead horse. ![“Socialism is a dead horse.” quote by Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/thorstein-veblen-10833_dead-horse_socialism-is-a-dead-horse-1696859_1696859.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/thorstein-veblen-10833_dead-horse_socialism-is-a-dead-horse-1696859_1696859.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/thorstein-veblen-10833_dead-horse_socialism-is-a-dead-horse-1696859_1696859.jpg) > “Socialism is a dead horse.” [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The idea is outdated and no longer effective in modern economies. **In simple terms:** Socialism is outdated. Key Takeaway Recognize its limits. Themes politics economics history Mood critical analytical Type philosophical political When to use this quote - policy debates - academic courses - activist meetings Key Concepts Marxism public policy Questions to Reflect On - Is there a modern adaptation that works? - How do we address its shortcomings? A Different Perspective Economic realities evolve beyond old doctrines. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Capitalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capitalism/) [Economy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economy/) [Horse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horse/) [Liberalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberalism/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Socialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/socialism/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [ Socialism needs to pull down wealth; liberalism seeks to raise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests, Liberalism would preserve \[them\] ... by reconciling… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/socialism-needs-to-pull-down-wealth-liberalism-seeks-to-raise-up/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Socialist thought owes its appeal to the young largely to its visionary character; the very courage to indulge in Utopian thought is in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-august-von-hayek/socialist-thought-owes-its-appeal-to-the-young-largely-to-its/) [Friedrich August von Hayek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-august-von-hayek/) > [The basic struggle today is not between individualism and collectivism, free enterprise and socialism, democracy and dictatorship. These are only the superficial manifestations of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-basic-struggle-today-is-not-between-individualism-and/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [When Socialism comes, it may be in such a form that we won't like it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-morris/when-socialism-comes-it-may-be-in-such-a-form-that-we-won-t-like-it/) [William Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-morris/) > [Always moved by religious motives, the Church has condemned the various forms of Marxist Socialism; and she condemns them today, because it is her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-pius-xi/always-moved-by-religious-motives-the-church-has-condemned-the/) [Pope Pius XI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-pius-xi/) > [Modern American liberalism is nothing but the socialism too stupid to recognize itself in the mirror.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-beale/modern-american-liberalism-is-nothing-but-the-socialism-too-stupid-to/) [Theodore Beale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-beale/) > [It is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/it-is-clear-that-the-main-tenet-of-socialism-community-of-goods-must/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [It doesn't benefit me to lie to people. They're eventually going to find out the truth, and then where am I? That's the problem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/it-doesn-t-benefit-me-to-lie-to-people-they-re-eventually-going-to/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [ \[The Clinton health care initiative is\] washed-over old-time bureaucratic liberalism, or centralized bureaucratic socialism. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/newt-gingrich/the-clinton-health-care-initiative-is-washed-over-old-time/) [Newt Gingrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/newt-gingrich/) > [“Such impulses have displayed themselves very widely across left and liberal opinion in recent months. Why? For some, because what the US government and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-geras/such-impulses-have-displayed-themselves-very-widely-across-left-and/) Norman Geras > [When the forces of liberalism and capitalism converge, change happens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-dunn/when-the-forces-of-liberalism-and-capitalism-converge-change-happens/) [Andy Dunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-dunn/) > [Radicals, on the other hand, want to advance from the jungle of laissez-faire capitalism to a world worthy of the name of human civilization.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/radicals-on-the-other-hand-want-to-advance-from-the-jungle-of-laissez/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [“Future generations would be convinced that nothing good could ever have existed in a country that produced such evil. They would think only of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-metaxas/future-generations-would-be-convinced-that-nothing-good-could-ever/) [Eric Metaxas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-metaxas/) > [“The past has given us much too many bad answers for us not to see that the mistakes were in the questions themselves. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-invisible-committee/the-past-has-given-us-much-too-many-bad-answers-for-us-not-to-see/) [The Invisible Committee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-invisible-committee/) > [“I wasn’t different from most girls I knew. Well, except the fact I was exponentially better looking, but why beat a dead horse?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fisher-amelie/i-wasn-t-different-from-most-girls-i-knew-well-except-the-fact-i-was/) [Fisher Amelie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fisher-amelie/) ## More by Thorstein Veblen > [Born in iniquity and conceived in sin, the spirit of nationalism has never ceased to bend human institutions to the service of dissension and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/born-in-iniquity-and-conceived-in-sin-the-spirit-of-nationalism-has/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [In aesthetic theory it might be extremely difficult, if not quite impracticable, to draw a line between the canon of classicism, or regard for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/in-aesthetic-theory-it-might-be-extremely-difficult-if-not-quite/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The addiction to sports, therefore, in a peculiar degree marks an arrested development in man's moral nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-addiction-to-sports-therefore-in-a-peculiar-degree-marks-an/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [A protective tariff is a typical conspiracy in restraint of trade.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspiracy-in-restraint-of-trade/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [It is much more difficult to recede from a scale of expenditure once adopted than it is to extend the accustomed scale in response…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/it-is-much-more-difficult-to-recede-from-a-scale-of-expenditure-once/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [A standard of living is of the nature of habit. ...it acts almost solely to prevent recession from a scale of conspicuous expenditure that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/a-standard-of-living-is-of-the-nature-of-habit-it-acts-almost-solely/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [With the exception of the instinct of self-preservation, the propensity for emulation is probably the strongest and most alert and persistent of the economic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/with-the-exception-of-the-instinct-of-self-preservation-the/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [It frequently happens that an element of the standard of living which set out with being primarily wasteful, ends with becoming, in the apprehension…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/it-frequently-happens-that-an-element-of-the-standard-of-living-which/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [All business sagacity reduces itself in the last analysis to judicious use of sabotage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/all-business-sagacity-reduces-itself-in-the-last-analysis-to/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [“She lives with man on terms of equality, knows nothing of that relation of status which is the ancient basis of all distinctions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/she-lives-with-man-on-terms-of-equality-knows-nothing-of-that/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The thief or swindler who has gained great wealth by his delinquency has a better chance than the small thief of escaping the rigorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-thief-or-swindler-who-has-gained-great-wealth-by-his-delinquency/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The dog commends himself to our favor by affording play to our propensity for mastery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-dog-commends-himself-to-our-favor-by-affording-play-to-our/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [“The ceremonial differentiation of the dietary is best seen in the use of intoxicating beverages and narcotics. If these articles of consumption are costly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-ceremonial-differentiation-of-the-dietary-is-best-seen-in-the-use/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The machine technology takes no cognizance of conventionally established rules of precedence; it knows neither manners nor breeding and can make no use of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-machine-technology-takes-no-cognizance-of-conventionally/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [Loud dress becomes offensive to people of taste, as evincing an undue desire to reach and impress the untrained sensibilities of the vulgar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/loud-dress-becomes-offensive-to-people-of-taste-as-evincing-an-undue/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) [Explore all 63 Thorstein Veblen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) ## More Capitalism 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/) > [Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/philosopher-is-a-dictator-who-modifies-accepted-standards-with-his/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party...and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-is-only-one-party-in-the-united-states-the-property-party-and/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [ Neither Italian fascism nor German national "socialism" have anything in common with such a \[Soviet socialistic\] society, primarily because private ownership of factories, plants,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-stalin/neither-italian-fascism-nor-german-national-socialism-have-anything/) [Joseph Stalin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-stalin/) > [Corporations have nothing to do with values, and they know it, and sometimes say it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-kierans/corporations-have-nothing-to-do-with-values-and-they-know-it-and/) [Eric Kierans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-kierans/) > [Both fact and logic seem to me to support the view that savings invested in privately owned economic tools of production amount to an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-a-harper/both-fact-and-logic-seem-to-me-to-support-the-view-that-savings/) F. A. Harper > [The free market is ugly and stupid, like going to the mall; the unfree market is just as ugly and just as stupid, except…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-free-market-is-ugly-and-stupid-like-going-to-the-mall-the-unfree/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Capitalism, communism ... it's all garbage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mstislav-rostropovich/capitalism-communism-it-s-all-garbage/) [Mstislav Rostropovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mstislav-rostropovich/) > [There are no two countries with the same style of economic mechanism, with the same capitalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatoly-chubais/there-are-no-two-countries-with-the-same-style-of-economic-mechanism/) [Anatoly Chubais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatoly-chubais/) > [It is more than a little ironic that "capital accumulation" once a rather tendentious Marxian view of a supposed capitalist obsession, should have become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kuttner/it-is-more-than-a-little-ironic-that-capital-accumulation-once-a/) [Robert Kuttner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kuttner/) > [Historically, usury was defined as any interest whatever on an unproductive loan.Our whole banking system I have ever abhorred, I continue to abhor, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-adams/historically-usury-was-defined-as-any-interest-whatever-on-an/) [John Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-adams/) > [Socialism is humanity's second nature. All politicians do is turn human vice into votes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/socialism-is-humanity-s-second-nature-all-politicians-do-is-turn/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [“Scholars have long debated whether capital markets lead to appropriate levels of saving and investment for future generations.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-l-weimer/scholars-have-long-debated-whether-capital-markets-lead-to/) David L. Weimer > [“A car is one of the most interesting inventions, but driving is one of the most boring activities.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/a-car-is-one-of-the-most-interesting-inventions-but-driving-is-one-of/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) [Browse all 3,832 Capitalism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capitalism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Socialism is a dead horse.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thorstein Veblen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/socialism-is-a-dead-horse/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Capitalism" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/socialism-is-a-dead-horse/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/thorstein-veblen-10833_dead-horse_socialism-is-a-dead-horse-1696859_1696859.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/thorstein-veblen-10833_dead-horse_socialism-is-a-dead-horse-1696859_1696859.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/thorstein-veblen-10833_dead-horse_socialism-is-a-dead-horse-1696859_1696859.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Socialism is a dead horse.” — Thorstein Veblen", "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": "Thorstein Veblen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Socialism is a dead horse.", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/socialism-is-a-dead-horse/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/socialism-is-a-dead-horse/#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 } } ] } ```