Adam Smith Quotes - Page 5

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• 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.

  Adam Smith

  Attention, Mankind, Persons

  Adam Smith (2012). “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”, p.95, Courier Corporation

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• Every tax ought to be so 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.

  Adam Smith

  People, Pockets, Littles

  Adam Smith (2010). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.499, Cosimo, Inc.

  16 Copy quote

• I am a beau in nothing but my books.

  Adam Smith

  Book

  Adam Smith, Robert L. Heilbroner, Laurence J. Malone (1987). “The Essential Adam Smith”, p.7, W. W. Norton & Company

  8 Copy quote

• Justice, however, never was in reality administered gratis in any country. Lawyers and attornies, at least, must always be paid by the parties; and, if they were not, they would perform their duty still worse than they actually perform it.

  Adam Smith

  Country, Party, Reality

  Adam Smith (1778). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.326

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• Whatever work he does, beyond what is sufficient to purchase his own maintenance, can be squeezed out of him by violence only, and not by any interest of his own.

  Adam Smith

  Doe, Maintenance, Violence

  Adam Smith, Laurence Dickey (1993). “Wealth of Nations (Abridged)”, p.91, Hackett Publishing

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• In every part of the universe we observe means adjusted with the nicest artifice to the ends which they are intended to produce; and in the mechanism of a plant, or animal body, admire how every thing is contrived for advancing the two great purposes of nature, the support of the individual, and the propagation of the species.

  Adam Smith

  Mean, Animal, Two

  Adam Smith, Robert L. Heilbroner, Laurence J. Malone (1987). “The Essential Adam Smith”, p.97, W. W. Norton & Company

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• Humanity is the virtue of a woman, generosity that of a man.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Generosity, Humanity

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• The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition is so powerful that it is alone, and without any assistance, capable not only of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting 100 impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations.

  Adam Smith

  Powerful, Law, Effort

  12 Copy quote

• The discipline of colleges and universities is in general contrived, not for the benefit of the students, but for the interest, or more properly speaking, for the ease of the masters. Its object is, in all cases, to maintain the authority of the master, and whether he neglects or performs his duty, to oblige the students in all cases to behave toward him as if he performed it with the greatest diligence and ability.

  Adam Smith

  College, Discipline, Benefits

  'Wealth of Nations' (1776)

  10 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.

  Adam Smith

  Purpose, May, Ends

  'Wealth of Nations' (1776) bk. 4, ch. 8

  27 Copy quote

• The annual produce of the land and labour of any nation can be increased in its value by no other means, but by increasing either the number of its productive labourers, or the productive powers of those labourers who had before been employed.

  Adam Smith

  Mean, Land, Numbers

  Adam Smith (1864). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.141

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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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• How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.

  Adam Smith

  Happiness, Selfish, Men

  Adam Smith (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Adam Smith (Illustrated)”, p.19, Delphi Classics

  20 Copy quote

• In the long-run the workman may be as necessary to his master as his master is to him, but the necessity is not so immediate.

  Adam Smith

  Running, Long, May

  Adam Smith (1843). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations With a Life of the Author: Also a View of the Doctrine of Smith, Compared with that of the French Economists, with a Method of Facilitating the Study of His Works, from the French of M. Jariner”, p.28

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• It would be too ridiculous to go about seriously to prove that wealth does not consist in money, or in gold and silver; but in what money purchases, and is valuable only for purchasing. Money no doubt, makes always a part of the national capital; but it has already been shown that it generally makes but a small part, and always the most unprofitable part of it.

  Adam Smith

  Doubt, Gold, Doe

  Adam Smith (1843). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations With a Life of the Author: Also a View of the Doctrine of Smith, Compared with that of the French Economists, with a Method of Facilitating the Study of His Works, from the French of M. Jariner”, p.177

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• The propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another is common to all men, and to be found in no other race of animals.

  Adam Smith

  Business, Men, Animal

  Adam Smith (1801). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”

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• The interest of the dealers, however, in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public. To widen the market and to narrow the competition, is always the interest of the dealers.

  Adam Smith

  Opposites, Competition, Different

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.107

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• The proprietor of stock is necessarily a citizen of the world, and is not necessarily attached to any particular country.

  Adam Smith

  Country, Citizens, World

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.358

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• It seldom happens, however, that a great proprietor is a great improver.

  Adam Smith

  Happens

  Adam Smith (2016). “The Wealth of Nations: the Great Master”, p.421, VM eBooks

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• Men desire to have some share in the management of public affairs chiefly on account of the importance which it gives them.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Giving, Desire

  Adam Smith, William Playfair (1811). “An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations”, p.102

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• The cheapness of wine seems to be a cause, not of drunkenness, but of sobriety. ...People are seldom guilty of excess in what is their daily fare... On the contrary, in the countries which, either from excessive heat or cold, produce no grapes, and where wine consequently is dear and a rarity, drunkenness is a common vice.

  Adam Smith

  Country, Wine, People

  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.439, Harriman House Limited

  7 Copy quote

• Sugar, rum and tobacco are commodities which are nowhere necessaries of life, which are become objects of almost universal consumption, and which are therefore extremely proper subjects of taxation.

  Adam Smith

  Taxation, Sugar, Commodity

  Adam Smith (1843). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations With a Life of the Author: Also a View of the Doctrine of Smith, Compared with that of the French Economists, with a Method of Facilitating the Study of His Works, from the French of M. Jariner”, p.399

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• To subject every private family to the odious visits and examination of the tax-gatherers ... would be altogether inconsistent with liberty.

  Adam Smith

  Liberty, Would Be, Examination

  Adam Smith, Dugald Stewart (1843). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.405

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• Upstart greatness is everywhere less respected than ancient greatness.

  Adam Smith

  Greatness, Ancient, Upstart

  Adam Smith, Robert L. Heilbroner, Laurence J. Malone (1987). “The Essential Adam Smith”, p.296, W. W. Norton & Company

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• Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone for another with another dog.

  Adam Smith

  Dog, Saws, Bones

  Adam Smith, Laurence Dickey (1993). “Wealth of Nations (Abridged)”, p.11, Hackett Publishing

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