8 quotes
The productions of the earth require long and difficult preparations, before they are rendered fit to supply the wants of men.
Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth (1766)
Every soil does not produce every material.
Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth (1766)
The earth has been cultivated before it has been divided; the cultivation itself having been the only motive for a division, and for that law which secures to every one his property.
Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth (1766)
Gold and silver are constituted, by the nature of things, money, and universal money, independent of all convention, and of all laws.
Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth (1766)
All is more or less proper to serve as a common measure, in proportion as it is more or less in general use, of a more similar quality, and more easy to be divided into aliquot parts.
Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth (1766)
All merchandize has the two essential properties of money, to measure and to represent all value: and in this sense all merchandize is money.
Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth (1766)
All money is essentially merchandize.
Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth (1766)
If the land was divided among all the inhabitants of a country, so that each of them possessed precisely the quantity necessary for his support, and nothing more; it is evident that all of them being equal, no one would work for another.
Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth (1766)