[Ads-l] Quotation: There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper . . .

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

On the Project Wombat mailing list back in 2015 an inquiry was made
about the quotation in the subject line. Here is one version of the
full quotation which is usually attributed to the famous English art
critic John Ruskin:

There is nothing in this world that some man cannot make a little
worse and sell a little cheaper, and those who shop by price alone are
this man's lawful prey.

Barry Popik has an entry with citations beginning in 1905. Fred
included the quotation in "The Yale Books of Quotations". Both
indicate that the ascription to Ruskin is probably incorrect.

Now, the Quote Investigator website has an article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/05/21/cheap/

The central result is a new citation dated February 1901 in
“Profitable Advertising: The Advertiser’s Trade Journal”. Based on
this citation, a correspondent named J. A. Richards is the top
candidate for creator of the target quotation. He sent a letter of
disagreement to the journal editor who had advocated the display of
prices within advertisements. Richards believed that a focus on prices
was undesirable for the sellers of quality goods.

[ref] 1901 February, Profitable Advertising: The Advertiser’s Trade
Journal, Volume 10, Number 9, Section: From “P.A’s” Point of View,
(Excerpt from a letter to the editor written J. A. Richards of New
York), Quote Page 636, Boston, Massachusetts. (HathiTrust Full View)
[/ref]

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc1.cu04607481?urlappend=%3Bseq=250

[Begin excerpt]
While you talk about the quality of your wares, you have your cheaper
competitor where he cannot touch you. The breach between you is longer
than his arm. When you begin to talk about prices, you are absolutely
at his mercy. There is hardly anything in the world that some man
cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people
who consider price only are this man’s lawful prey. This is the
doctrine of commercial foreordination, against which it is useless to
contend.
[End excerpt]

Additional details are available within the QI article.
Feedback welcome,
Garson

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