“Man, an animal that makes bargains.”

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

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.

When profit diminishes, merchants are very apt to complain that trade decays; though the diminution of profit is the natural effect of its prosperity, or of a greater stock being employed in it than before.

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

A very poor man may be said in some sense to have a demand for a coach and six; he might like to have it; but his demand is not an effectual demand, as the commodity can never be brought to market in order to satisfy it.

On the road from the City of Skepticism, I had to pass through the Valley of Ambiguity.

Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.

Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber.

Here was a chimpanzee using a tool. That was object modification- the crude beginning of tool making.

Attacks by other chimpanzees are the second most frequent cause of death at Gombe, after disease.

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.

Some weasel took the cork out of my lunch.

America will tolerate the taking of a human life without giving it a second thought. But don’t misuse a household pet.

Just because a chicken was born in the oven doesn’t make it a biscuit.

Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals, for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.