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

Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this – no dog exchanges bones with another.

There is no art which government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.

The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.

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.

An instructed and intelligent people are always more decent and orderly than an ignorant and stupid one.

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

It must always be remembered, however, that it is the luxuries, and not the necessary expense of the inferior ranks of people, that ought ever to be taxed.

Beneficence is always free, it cannot be extorted by force.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

The real price of everything, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.

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.

All money is a matter of belief.

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

We are but one of the multitude, in no respect better than any other in it.

Defense is superior to opulence.

Happiness never lays its finger on its pulse.

If this should end in fire come, fill this desire.

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.

Duty without love is deplorable. Duty with love is desirable. Love without duty is Divine.

A man’s wealth must be determined by the relation of his desires and expenditures to his income. If he feels rich on ten dollars, and has everything else he desires, he really is rich.

LIFE + DESIRE = MAN; LIFE – DESIRE = GOD.

We should always speak what would please the man of whom we expect a favor, like the hunter who sings sweetly when he desires to shoot a deer.

We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.

Desire is storm, greed is whirlpool, pride is precipice, attachment is avalanche, ego is volcano. Discard desire and you are liberated.