Adam Smith

“...a man within the breast...”

— Adam Smith

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

— Adam Smith

Every man lives by exchanging.

— Adam Smith

A true party-man hates and despises candour.

— Adam Smith

Defense is superior to opulence.

— Adam Smith

I have no faith in political arithmetic.

— Adam Smith

I am a beau in nothing but my books.

— Adam Smith

The game women play is men.

— Adam Smith

“Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely.”

— Adam Smith

“You will make better decisions once you begin thinking long-term rather than short-term.”

— Adam Smith

Secrets in manufactures are capable of being longer kept than secrets in trade.

— Adam Smith

Beneficence is always free, it cannot be extorted by force.

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

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

— Adam Smith

Upstart greatness is everywhere less respected than ancient greatness.

— 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

The natural price, therefore, is, as it were, the central price, to which the prices of all commodities are continually gravitating.

— Adam Smith

By nature a philosopher is not in genius and disposition half so different from a street porter, as a mastiff is from…

— Adam Smith

The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman is that of his customers. It is the fear of losing…

— Adam Smith

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

— 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

To feel much for others and little for ourselves; to restrain our selfishness and exercise our benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of…

— Adam Smith

“A nation is not made welthy by the childish accumulation of shiny metals, but it enriched by the economic prosperity of it's…

— 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

The interest of the dealers, however, in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and…

— Adam Smith

Whenever the legislature attempts to regulate differences between masters and their workmen, its counsellors are always the masters. When the regulation, therefore,…

— Adam Smith

“An old man goes to the Wizard to ask him if he can remove a curse he has been living with for…

— 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

The machines that are first invented to perform any particular movement are always the most complex, and succeeding artists generally discover that,…

— Adam Smith

The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it…

— Adam Smith

“A great stock, though with small profits, generally increases faster than a small stock with great profits. Money, says the proverb, makes…

— Adam Smith

Both ground- rents and the ordinary rent of land are a species of revenue which the owner, in many cases, enjoys without…

— 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

“Profit is so very fluctuating that the person who carries on a particular trade cannot always tell you himself what is the…

— Adam Smith

Though our brother is upon the rack, as long as we ourselves are at ease, our senses will never inform us of…

— 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

But avarice and ambition in the rich, in the poor the hatred of labour and the love of present ease and enjoyment,…

— Adam Smith

The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part…

— Adam Smith

“In a nation distracted by faction, there are, no doubt, always a few, though commonly but a very few, who preserve their…

— Adam Smith