Adam Smith Quotes - Page 4

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• The property which every man has in his own labour, as it is the original foundation of all other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Foundation, Sacred

  Adam Smith (1814). “An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. With notes, and an additional vol., by D. Buchanan”, p.200

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• Labor was the first price, the original purchase - money that was paid for all things.

  Adam Smith

  Labour Movement, Labor Day, Firsts

  1776 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, bk.1, ch.5.

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• It is not for its own sake that men desire money, but for the sake of what they can purchase with it.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Desire, Sake

  Adam Smith (2007). “The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: With an introduction by Jonathan B. Wight, University of Richmond”, p.393, Harriman House Limited

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• Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.

  Adam Smith

  Government, Liberty, Citizens

  Adam Smith, James R. Otteson (2004). “Adam Smith: Selected Philosophical Writings”, p.100, Imprint Academic

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• A merchant, it has been said very properly, is not necessarily the citizen of any particular country.

  Adam Smith

  Country, Citizens, Economics

  Adam Smith (2007). “The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.271, Harriman House Limited

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• 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 maxim is so perfectly self-evident that it would be absurd to attempt to prove it. But in the mercantile system the interest of the consumer is almost constantly sacrificed to that of the producer; and it seems to consider production, and not consumption, as the ultimate end and object of all industry and commerce.

  Adam Smith

  Self, Purpose, May

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.274

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• It is not by augmenting the capital of the country, but by rendering a greater part of that capital active and productive than would otherwise be so, that the most judicious operations of banking can increase the industry of the country.

  Adam Smith

  Country, Banking, Economy

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.131

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• But though empires, like all the other works of men, have all hitherto proved mortal, yet every empire aims at immortality.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Empires, Immortality

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.349

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• The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman is that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his negligence.

  Adam Smith

  Real, Hype, Discipline

  Adam Smith (2010). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.138, Cosimo, Inc.

  88 Copy quote

• Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely; or to be that thing which is the natural and proper object of love.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Lovely, Desire

  Adam Smith, James R. Otteson (2004). “Adam Smith: Selected Philosophical Writings”, p.56, Imprint Academic

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• It is the interest of every man to live as much at his ease as he can; and if his emoluments are to be precisely the same, whether he does or does not perform some very laborious duty, it is certainly his interest, at least as interest is vulgarly understood, either to neglect it altogether, or, if he is subject to some authority which will not suffer him to do this, to perform it in as careless and slovenly a manner as that authority will permit.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Suffering, Doe

  Adam Smith (2007). “The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.494, Harriman House Limited

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• In ease of body, peace of mind, all the different ranks of life are nearly upon a level and the beggar who suns himself by the side of the highway, possesses that security which kings are fighting for.

  Adam Smith

  Kings, Fighting, Mind

  1759 The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

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• It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense. They are themselves, always, and without any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society.

  Adam Smith

  Kings, Invisible Hand, People

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 1, bk. 2, ch. 3 (1776)

  37 Copy quote

• The subjects of every state ought to contribute toward the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state ....As Henry Home (Lord Kames) has written, a goal of taxation should be to 'remedy inequality of riches as much as possible, by relieving the poor and burdening the rich.'

  Adam Smith

  Home, Government, Goal

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• Nothing but the most exemplary morals can give dignity to a man of small fortune.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Giving, Moral

  Adam Smith (2007). “The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.35, Harriman House Limited

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• Capitals are increased by parsimony, and diminished by prodigalityand misconduct. By what a frugal man annually saves he not onlyaffords maintenance to an additional number of productive hands?but?he establishes as it were a perpetual fund for the maintenance of an equal number in all times to come.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Hands, Numbers

  1776 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, bk.2, ch.3.

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• The uniform, constant, and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition . . . is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural progress of things toward improvement, in spite of the extravagance of government, and of the greatest errors of administration.

  Adam Smith

  Powerful, Men, Errors

  Adam Smith, John Ramsay McCulloch (1828). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.115

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• What is prudence in the conduct of every private family can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom.

  Adam Smith

  Invisible Hand, Kingdoms, Economic

  1776 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, bk.4, ch.2.

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• The division of labour was limited by the extent of the market

  Adam Smith

  Division, Economics, Labour

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• It is not the actual greatness of national wealth, but its continual increase, which occasions a rise in the wages of labour. It is not, accordingly, in the richest countries, but in the most thriving, or in those which are growing rich the fastest, that the wages of labour are highest. England is certainly, in the present times, a much richer country than any part of North America. The wages of labour, however, are much higher in North America than in any part of England.

  Adam Smith

  Country, Greatness, America

  Adam Smith, Laurence Dickey (1993). “Wealth of Nations (Abridged)”, p.35, Hackett Publishing

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• The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour.

  Adam Smith

  Division Of Labor, Skills, Dexterity

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.2

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• People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty or justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.

  Adam Smith

  Law, Justice, People

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 1, bk. 1, ch. 10 (1776)

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• That the chance of gain is naturally over-valued, we may learn from the universal success of lotteries.

  Adam Smith

  May, Gains, Chance

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.45

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• In general, if any branch of trade, or any division of labour, be advantageous to the public, the freer and more general the competition, it will always be the more so.

  Adam Smith

  Competition, Division, Branches

  Adam Smith (2016). “The Wealth of Nations: the Great Master”, p.360, VM eBooks

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• Wonder... and not any expectation of advantage from its discoveries, is the first principle which prompts mankind to the study of Philosophy, of that science which pretends to lay open the concealed connections that unite the various appearances of nature.

  Adam Smith

  Philosophy, Knowledge, Discovery

  'Essays on Philosophical Subjects' (1795) 'The History of Astronomy' sect. 3, para. 3

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