Men Quotes by Adam Smith

Every man lives by exchanging.

— Adam Smith

The game women play is men.

— Adam Smith

A true party-man hates and despises candour.

— Adam Smith

A sketch of a man facing to the right.

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

Nothing but the most exemplary morals can give dignity to a man of small fortune.

— Adam Smith

Men, like animals, naturally multiply in proportion to the means of their subsistence.

— Adam Smith

The property which every man has in his own labour, as it is the original foundation of all other property, so it…

— Adam Smith

As we have no immediate experience of what other men feel, we can form no idea of the manner in which they…

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely; or to be that thing which is the natural and…

— Adam Smith

The propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another is common to all men, and to be found in no…

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

The first thing you have to know is yourself. A man who knows himself can step outside himself and watch his own…

— Adam Smith

As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap…

— Adam Smith

The man scarce lives who is not more credulous than he ought to be... The natural disposition is always to believe. It…

— Adam Smith

Ask any rich man of common prudence to which of the two sorts of people he has lent the greater part of…

— Adam Smith

A man must always live by his work, and his wages must at least be sufficient to maintain him. They must even…

— Adam Smith

The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit. In the great chess board of human society,…

— Adam Smith

Capitals are increased by parsimony, and diminished by prodigalityand misconduct. By what a frugal man annually saves he not onlyaffords maintenance to…

— Adam Smith

A very poor man may be said in some sense to have a demand for a coach and six; he might like…

— Adam Smith

Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor,…

— Adam Smith

Every faculty in one man is the measure by which he judges of the like faculty in another. I judge of your…

— Adam Smith

“It is the interest of every man to live as much at his ease as he can; and if his emoluments are…

— Adam Smith

The value of any commodity, therefore, to the person who possesses it, and who means not to use or consume it himself,…

— Adam Smith

This great increase of the quantity of work which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of people are…

— Adam Smith

The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects are perhaps always the same,…

— Adam Smith

The man of system, on the contrary, is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamoured…

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

But though empires, like all the other works of men, have all hitherto proved mortal, yet every empire aims at immortality.

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

Fear is in almost all cases a wretched instrument of government, and ought in particular never to be employed against any order…

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

The man who barely abstains from violating either the person, or the estate, or the reputation of his neighbours, has surely very…

— Adam Smith

The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals would not only load…

— Adam Smith

The uniform, constant, and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition . . . is frequently powerful enough to maintain…

— Adam Smith

It may indeed be doubted whether butchers' meet is anywhere a necessary of life. Grain and other vegetables, with the help of…

— Adam Smith

Men of the most robust make, observe that in looking upon sore eyes they often feel a very sensible soreness in their…

— Adam Smith

The interest of [businessmen] is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public ... The proposal…

— Adam Smith