“Ask any rich man of common prudence to which of the two sorts of people he has lent the greater part of his stock, to those who, he thinks, will employ it profitably, or to those who will spend it idly, and he will laugh at you for proposing the question.”

A gardener who cultivates his own garden with his own hands, unites in his own person the three different characters, of landlord, farmer, and labourer. His produce, therefore, should pay him the rent of the first, the profit of the second, and the wages of the third.

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

Every man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of human life.

Have lots of experiments, but make sure they’re strategically focused.

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

Man, an animal that makes bargains.

No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.

It is unjust that the whole of society should contribute towards an expence of which the benefit is confined to a part of the society.

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.

The problem with fiat money is that it rewards the minority that can handle money, but fools the generation that has worked and saved money.

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

I have no great faith in political arithmetic, and I mean not to warrant the exactness of either of these computations.

Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production.

Individual Ambition Serves the Common Good.

I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.

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.

Employment is nature’s physician, and is essential to human happiness.

Could a man live by it, it were not unpleasant employment to be a poet.

Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle.

The European Central Bank has only the first. It has no commitment to keep employment up.

In Britain, what we’ve done is say to 485 million people, ‘You can all come, every one of you. You’re unemployed? You’ve got a criminal record? Please come. You’ve got 19 children? Please come.’ We’ve lost any sense of perspective on this.

It’s a European Union of economic failure, of mass unemployment and of low growth.

To the security of employment at working age, to the challenge of accumulating for retirement.

Nonetheless, GAO’s conclusion that employer sanctions had somehow caused employment discrimination was contradicted by GAO’s own Chief of Methodology, who criticized the GAO report.