There is nothing I hate more than haggling. It is simply a petty and brazen business: Two parties will negotiate and argue for an hour only to walk away from what they have solemnly agreed to over five pennies’ worth of overcharge.
[Il n’est rien que je haysse comme à marchander : c’est un pur commerce de trichoterie et d’impudence. Apres une heure de debat et de barguignage, l’un et l’autre abandonne sa parolle et ses sermens pour cinq sous d’amendement.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 14 “The Taste of Good and Bad Things Depends Mostly on the Opinion We Have of Them [Que le goust des biens et des maux despend en bonne partie de l’opinion que nous en avons]” (1572) (1.14) (1595) [tr. HyperEssays (2023)]
(Source)
Though this chapter was written around 1572 for the 1580 edition, this text was added for the 1588 edition. The chapter as a whole was numbered ch. 14 in the 1580 and 1588 editions, moved to ch. 40 for the 1595 ed. Most modern translations use the original numbering.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
There is nothing I hate more then driving of bargains: It is a meere commerce of dodging and impudencie. After an houres debating and paltring, both parties will goe from their wordes and oathes for the getting or saving of a shilling.
[tr. Florio (1603), ch. 40]
There is nothing I hate so much, as driving a Bargain; ’tis a meer Traffick of Couzenage and Impudence; where after an Hours cheapning and dogding, both Parties abandon their Word and Oath for Five Sols profit, or abatement.
[tr. Cotton (1686), ch. 40]
There is nothing I hate so much as driving a bargain; 'tis a mere traffic of cozenage and impudence, where, after an hour's cheapening and hesitating, both parties abandon their word and oath for five sols' abatement.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877), ch. 40]
There is nothing that I hate so much as haggling; it is a mere interchange of cheating and impudence. Afer an hour of wrangling and chaffering, one and the other side sacrifices his word and his oaths for a charge of five sous.
[tr. Ives (1925)]
There is nothing I hate like bargaining. It is a pure interchange of trickery and shamelessness: after an hour of disputing and haggling both men go back on their word and their oath for a gain of five sous.
[tr. Frame (1943)]
There is nothing I hate more than bargaining. It is a pure exchange of trickery and effrontery: after hours of arguing and haggling both sides go back on their pledged word to gain a few pence more.
[tr. Screech (1987)]
Quotations about:
bargaining
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Strong, responsible unions are essential to industrial fair play. Without them the labor bargain is wholly one-sided. The parties to the labor contract must be nearly equal in strength if justice is to be worked out, and this means that the workers must be organized and that their organizations must be recognized by employers as a condition precedent to industrial peace.
Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) American lawyer, activist, Supreme Court Justice (1916-39)
In The Curse of Bigness: Miscellaneous Papers of Louis D. Brandeis [ed. Fraenkel and Lewis] (1965)
(Source)
