--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The greatest improvement in the…" description: "\"The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywhere direc..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e6d/adam-smith-1040_dexterity_the-greatest-improvement-in-the-producti_2807705.jpg" --- # The greatest improvement in the productive powers of… ![“The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour.” quote by Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e6d/adam-smith-1040_dexterity_the-greatest-improvement-in-the-producti_2807705.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e6d/adam-smith-1040_dexterity_the-greatest-improvement-in-the-producti_2807705.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e6d/adam-smith-1040_dexterity_the-greatest-improvement-in-the-producti_2807705.jpg) > “The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour.” [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Division of labour boosts productivity, skill, and judgment across tasks. **In simple terms:** Division of labour improves productivity. Key Takeaway Organize work into specialized tasks. Themes economics productivity labor Mood analytical pragmatic Type economic educational When to use this quote - manufacturing - software development - team projects Key Concepts division of labor efficiency skill development Questions to Reflect On - What tasks could be better shared? - How does specialization affect creativity? A Different Perspective Specialization can reduce worker autonomy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dexterity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dexterity/) [Division](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/division/) [Division Labour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/division-labour-372486/) [Division of labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/division-of-labor/) [Effects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/effects/) [Effects Division](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/effects-division-372487/) [Greater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greater/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Improvement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/improvement/) [Judgment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judgment/) [Labour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labour/) [Labour Greater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labour-greater-3497139/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Powers Labour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/powers-labour-2173131/) [Productive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/productive/) [Productive Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/productive-powers-1877835/) [Productivity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/productivity/) [Seems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seems/) [Skills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/skills/) [Wealth of nations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wealth-of-nations/) ## Related quotes > [“The division of labour, however, so far as it can be introduced, occasions, in every art, a proportionable increase of the productive powers of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/the-division-of-labour-however-so-far-as-it-can-be-introduced/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/the-effects-of-the-division-of-labour-in-the-general-business-of/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [“If he is a worker, the ubiquitous fact of unemployment teaches him that the supply of labour is always greater than the demand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brealey-myers/if-he-is-a-worker-the-ubiquitous-fact-of-unemployment-teaches-him/) [Brealey & Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brealey-myers/) > [“To take an example, therefore, from a very trifling manufacture; 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In the great chess board of human society, every single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/the-man-of-system-is-apt-to-be-very-wise-in-his-own-conceit-in-the/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/nobody-but-a-beggar-chooses-to-depend-chiefly-upon-the-benevolence-of/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) ## More 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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/poor-david-hume-is-dying-fast-but-with-more-real-cheerfulness-and/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/the-effects-of-the-division-of-labour-in-the-general-business-of/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [Defense is superior to opulence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/defense-is-superior-to-opulence/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [“There is a great deal of ruin in a nation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/there-is-a-great-deal-of-ruin-in-a-nation/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/the-profligacy-of-a-man-of-fashion-is-looked-upon-with-much-less/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/great-ambition-the-desire-of-real-superiority-of-leading-and/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/people-of-the-same-trade-seldom-meet-together-even-for-merriment-and/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/nobody-but-a-beggar-chooses-to-depend-chiefly-upon-the-benevolence-of/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/how-selfish-soever-man-may-be-supposed-there-are-evidently-some/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/the-liberal-reward-of-labour-therefore-as-it-is-the-affect-of/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [A sketch of a man facing to the right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/a-sketch-of-a-man-facing-to-the-right/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/what-can-be-added-to-the-happiness-of-a-man-who-is-in-health-out-of/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/it-is-not-from-the-benevolence-of-the-butcher-the-brewer-or-the-baker/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/when-we-have-read-a-book-or-poem-so-often-that-we-can-no-longer-find/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [We are but one of the multitude, in no respect better than any other in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/we-are-but-one-of-the-multitude-in-no-respect-better-than-any-other/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) [Explore all 267 Adam Smith quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) ## More Dexterity quotes > [Art, if it is successful in the task of questioning reality, if it is good painting and not merely a performance of dexterity, will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-swift/art-if-it-is-successful-in-the-task-of-questioning-reality-if-it-is/) [Patrick Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-swift/) > [“It is almost possible to measure a writer's skill by the dexterity with which he repeats, and yet avoids monotony.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-g-williams/it-is-almost-possible-to-measure-a-writer-s-skill-by-the-dexterity/) [George G. 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Neither dexterity nor conscientiousness is enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chai-lu/some-aim-to-be-deft-others-to-be-laboriously-careful-neither/) [Chai Lu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chai-lu/) > [He who asks fortune-tellers the future unwittingly forfeits an inner intimation of coming events that is a thousand times more exact than anything they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/he-who-asks-fortune-tellers-the-future-unwittingly-forfeits-an-inner/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [With Head Off & Split, Nikky Finney establishes herself as one of the most eloquent, urgent, fearless and necessary poets writing in America today.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kwame-dawes/with-head-off-split-nikky-finney-establishes-herself-as-one-of-the/) [Kwame Dawes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kwame-dawes/) > [“True artists do not create to fish for compliments and praises. 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