The nations which consume all that they produce, without leaving a store for future production, have no capital.
Like thriftless individuals, they live from hand to mouth, and are always poor and miserable.

Nations that have no capital, have no commerce.

They have no accumulations to dispose of; hence they have no ships, no sailors, no docks, no harbours, no canals, and no railways.
Thrifty industry lies at the root of the civilization of the world.
Look at Spain.

There, the richest soil is the least productive.

Along the banks of the Guadalquiver, where once twelve thousand villages existed, there are now not eight hundred; and they are full of beggars.
A Spanish proverb says, "El cielo y suelo es bueno, el entresuelo malo"-- The sky is good, the earth is good; that only is bad which lies between the sky and the earth.