“In the eighteenth century, the Scottish Enlightenment focused attention on Glasgow and Edinburgh as centres of intellectual activity. The Scottish Enlightenment was… — Ronald Carter Copy Share Image
If the machinery for distribution in the present economic system of the world is incapable of properly distributing the productive wealth of… — Gregor Strasser Copy Share Image
“How strange it must be, I thought, to be wed not merely as husband and wife but Cruarch and Queen, trading men’s… — Jacqueline Carey Copy Share Image
“Economists are not responsible for the wealth of nations, but they can be responsible for the poverty of nations. This is an… — Peter J. Boettke Copy Share Image
Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people… — Adam Smith Copy Share Image
“Survival of the fittest" in the commonly used animal sense is not a theory or principle for a "time-binding" being. This theory… — Alfred Korzybski Copy Share Image
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of… — Adam Smith Copy Share Image
The annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniencies of life which… — Adam Smith Copy Share Image
We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations [that is, unions or colluding organizations] of masters, though frequently of those… — Adam Smith Copy Share Image
Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor. — Adam Smith Copy Share Image
Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone for another with another dog. — Anonymous Copy Share Image
You're never going to read 'The Wealth of Nations,' and you shouldn't, really. It's 900 pages. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Some time ago a little-known Scottish philosopher wrote a book on what makes nations succeed and what makes them fail. The Wealth… — George Akerlof Copy Share Image
“It appears, accordingly, from the experience of all ages and nations, I believe, that the work done by freemen comes cheaper in… — Adam Smith Copy Share Image
The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their… — Adam Smith Copy Share Image
Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote… — Adam Smith Copy Share Image
“Beyond infrastructure, the conservative sees the proper role of government as providing not European-style universal entitlements but a firm safety net, meaning… — Charles Krauthammer Copy Share Image
During the two centuries since the publication of 'The Wealth of Nations,' the main activity of economists, it seems to me, has… — Ronald Coase Copy Share Image
“Needless to say, this idea that the origin of prosperity is hard work and frugality was exhaustively formulated by Adam Smith in… — Axel Kaiser Copy Share Image
The world values the seer above all men, and has always done so. Nay, it values all men in proportion as they… — John Jay Chapman Copy Share Image
The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it… — Adam Smith Copy Share Image
The interest of [businessmen] is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public ... The proposal… — Adam Smith Copy Share Image
The key insight of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is misleadingly simple: if an exchange between two parties is voluntary, it will… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image