This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and powerful, and to despise or, at least, neglect persons of poor and mean conditions, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.

— Adam Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)

Share this quote

Post on X Facebook Download image Copy quote Copy link

Another quote →