" I wonder which is the more useful to a nation, ” he asked rhetorically, “a well-powdered nobleman who knows exactly at what minute the King gets up and goes to bed, and who gives himself grand airs while playing the part of a slave in some Minister’s antechamber, or a business man who enriches his country, issues orders from his office to Surat or Cairo, and contributes to the well-being of the world. "

― Jerry Z. Muller , The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought