Libertarian Quotes by Adam Smith

Poor David Hume is dying fast, but with more real cheerfulness and good humor and with more real resignation to the necessary course of…

— Adam Smith

“The effects of the division of labour, in the general business of society, will be more easily understood by considering in what manner it…

— Adam Smith

Defense is superior to opulence.

— Adam Smith

“There is a great deal of ruin in a nation.”

— Adam Smith

“The profligacy of a man of fashion is looked upon with much less contempt and aversion, than that of a man of meaner condition.”

— Adam Smith

Great ambition, the desire of real superiority, of leading and directing, seems to be altogether peculiar to man, and speech is the great instrument…

— Adam Smith

People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or…

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and…

— Adam Smith

The liberal reward of labour, therefore, as it is the affect of increasing wealth, so it is the cause of increasing population. To complain…

— Adam Smith

A sketch of a man facing to the right.

— Adam Smith

What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

When we have read a book or poem so often that we can no longer find any amusement in reading it by ourselves, we…

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith