Life & Wisdom Quote by Christopher Morley

Morley treats language like the one market that never crashes, and the slyness is in how he flatters both writers and readers while needling the rest of the economy. Calling words a "commodity" is deliberately unromantic: he drags poetry and prose into the countinghouse, implying they’re produced, traded, hoarded, speculated on. Yet unlike wheat or steel, words don’t spoil, and demand doesn’t depend on harvests or business cycles. People keep buying narratives, arguments, slogans, gossip, prayers, love letters, and excuses no matter what the Dow is doing.

The line lands as a small act of cultural defiance in an era when modern mass media was turning language into scalable product: newspapers thick with ads, radio scripts, public relations, political messaging. Morley, a bookish wit with a journalist’s feel for circulation, sees that the real engine of modern life is persuasion and story. Even "slump" carries a faintly journalistic bite, as if he’s watching panic spread through markets and calmly noting the one thing everyone still needs: a way to explain what’s happening.

The subtext is both comforting and accusatory. Comforting, because it reassures the writer that their craft has durable value. Accusatory, because it reminds us that words are also the oldest instrument of manipulation. If there’s never a slump, it’s partly because anxiety, status, and desire never go out of season. Words are recession-proof because human vulnerability is.