Adam Smith Quotes - Page 4

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• But avarice and ambition in the rich, in the poor the hatred of labour and the love of present ease and enjoyment, are the passions which prompt to invade property, passions much more steady in their operation, and much more universal in their influence. Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many.

  Adam Smith

  Affluence, Making Money, Rich

  Adam Smith, J.R. McCulloch (1828). “Aninquiry in to the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: With a Life of the Author, an Introductory Discourse, Notes, and Supplemental Dissertations by J.R. McCulloch”, p.190

  149 Copy quote

• 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

  31 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

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  16 Copy quote

• 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

  11 Copy quote

• Man, an animal that makes bargains.

  Adam Smith

  Animal, Men, Agreement

  4 Copy quote

• The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess ... It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.

  Adam Smith

  Vanity, Progressive Taxation, Luxury

  7 Copy quote

• The man of system, on the contrary, is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamoured with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government, that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it... He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chess-board. He does not consider that...in the great chess-board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might choose to impress upon it.

  Adam Smith

  Wise, Men, Hands

  "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" by Adam Smith, (Section II, Chap. II), 1759.

  81 Copy quote

• 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.

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  13 Copy quote

• 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

  5 Copy quote

• 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

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  13 Copy quote

• 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 statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals would not only load himself with most unnecessary attention but assume an authority which could safely be trusted to no council and senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of man who have folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.

  Adam Smith

  Exercise, Men, Hands

  Adam Smith, Bruce Mazlish (2003). “The Wealth of Nations: Representative Selections”, p.167, Courier Corporation

  8 Copy quote

• 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

• 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

  17 Copy quote

• 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.

  11 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

  11 Copy quote

• The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects are perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding or to exercise his invention in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become.

  Adam Smith

  Stupid, Exercise, Simple

  Adam Smith (2017). “The Wealth of Nations (illustrated)”, p.590, Clap Publishing, LLC.

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  33 Copy quote

• The man scarce lives who is not more credulous than he ought to be... The natural disposition is always to believe. It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity, and they very seldom teach it enough.

  Adam Smith

  Believe, Men, Wisdom And Experience

  Adam Smith (2012). “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”, p.336, Courier Corporation

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  4 Copy quote

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

  Adam Smith

  Division, Economics, Labour

  9 Copy quote

• A sketch of a man facing to the right.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Empathy

  7 Copy quote

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