Men desire to have some share in the management of public affairs chiefly on account of the importance which it gives them.
ADAM SMITHMen desire to have some share in the management of public affairs chiefly on account of the importance which it gives them.
ADAM SMITHAn instructed and intelligent people are always more decent and orderly than an ignorant and stupid one.
ADAM SMITHThe 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 SMITHI am a beau in nothing but my books.
ADAM SMITHThe learned ignore the evidence of their senses to preserve the coherence of the ideas of their imagination.
ADAM SMITHThe violence and injustice of the rulers of mankind is an ancient evil, for which, I am afraid, the nature of human affairs can scarce admit a remedy.
ADAM SMITHGreat nations are never impoverished by private, though they sometimes are by public prodigality and misconduct.
ADAM SMITHWhen 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.
ADAM SMITHIt 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 SMITHPeople 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.
ADAM SMITHI have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.
ADAM SMITHLittle 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.
ADAM SMITHAs soon as government management begins it upsets the natural equilibrium of industrial relations, and each interference only requires further bureaucratic control until the end is the tyranny of the totalitarian state.
ADAM SMITHThe 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 SMITHEvery 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 SMITHMan, an animal that makes bargains.
ADAM SMITH