133 quotes
I have no great faith in political arithmetic, and I mean not to warrant the exactness of either of these computations.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
Fear is in almost all cases a wretched instrument of government, and ought in particular never to be employed against any order of men who have the smallest pretensions to independency.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
By nature a philosopher is not in genius and disposition half so different from a street porter, as a mastiff is from a greyhound
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
The retinue of a grandee in China or Indostan accordingly is, by all accounts, much more numerous and splendid than that of the richest subjects of Europe.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
I have no faith in political arithmetic.
It appears, accordingly, from the experience of all ages and nations, I believe, that the work done by freemen comes cheaper in the end than that performed by slaves.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
Every man is, no doubt, by nature, first and principally recommended to his own care; and as he is fitter to take care of himself than of any other person, it is fit and right that it should be so.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
That of beaver skins, of beaver wool, and of gum Senega, has been subjected to higher duties; Great Britain, by the conquest of Canada and Senegal, having got almost the monopoly of those commodities.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
When profit diminishes, merchants are very apt to complain that trade decays; though the diminution of profit is the natural effect of its prosperity, or of a greater stock being employed in it than before.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
IV. Every tax ought to be contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible, over and above what it brings into the public treasury of the state.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
In England, success in the profession of the law leads to some very great objects of ambition; and yet how few men, born to easy fortunes, have ever in this country been eminent in that profession?
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
We are delighted to find a person who values us as we value ourselves, and distinguishes us from the rest of mankind, with an attention not unlike that with which we distinguish ourselves.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
Though the profusion of Government must undoubtedly have retarded the natural progress of England to wealth and improvement, it has not been able to stop it.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations of masters, though frequently of those of the workman. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expence of carriage, put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with those of the neighbourhood of the town. They are upon that the greatest of all improvements.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
The propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another … is common to all men, and to be found in no other Race race of animals.
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
the competition of the poor takes away from the reward of the rich.
The Wealth of Nations (1776)