Adam Smith Quotes

• People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.

  Adam Smith

  Invisible Hand   People  

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 1, bk. 1, ch. 10 (1776)

  3817

• It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense. They are themselves, always, and without any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society.

  Adam Smith

  Kings   Invisible Hand   People  

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 1, bk. 2, ch. 3 (1776)

  2019

• The propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another is common to all men, and to be found in no other race of animals.

  Adam Smith

  Men  

  Adam Smith (1801). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”

  2276

• Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.

  Adam Smith

  Justice  

  Adam Smith, comte Germain Garnier, Dugald Stewart (1835). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.96

  4085

• It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.

  Adam Smith

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.355

  2992

• Justice, however, never was in reality administered gratis in any country. Lawyers and attornies, at least, must always be paid by the parties; and, if they were not, they would perform their duty still worse than they actually perform it.

  Adam Smith

  Country   Reality  

  Adam Smith (1778). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.326

  2268

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

  Adam Smith

  Men  

  Adam Smith (2007). “The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: With an introduction by Jonathan B. Wight, University of Richmond”, p.393, Harriman House Limited

  2661

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

  Adam Smith

  Men  

  Adam Smith, William Playfair (1811). “An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations”, p.102

  4765

• Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this - no dog exchanges bones with another.

  Adam Smith

  1721

• In a militia, the character of the laborer, artificer, or tradesman, predominates over that of the soldier: in a standing army, that of the soldier predominates over every other character.

  Adam Smith

  Character  

  Adam Smith (1801). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.322

  687

• We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations [that is, unions or colluding organizations] of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor above their actual price.

  Adam Smith

  3667

• He is led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention

  Adam Smith

  Ignorance   Invisible Hand  

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 2, bk. 4, ch. 2 (1776) See Adam Smith 1

  605

• How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.

  Adam Smith

  Happiness   Men  

  Adam Smith (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Adam Smith (Illustrated)”, p.19, Delphi Classics

  2917

• The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit. In the great chess board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own altogether different from that which the legislature might choose to impress upon it

  Adam Smith

  Men  

  Adam Smith (1817). “The Theory of Moral Sentiments: Or, An Essay Towards an Analysis of the Principles by which Men Naturally Judge Concerning the Conduct and Character, First of Their Neighbours, and Afterwards of Themselves : to which is Added, A Dissertation on the Origin of Languages”, p.379

  2885

• Ask any rich man of common prudence to which of the two sorts of people he has lent the greater part of his stock, to those who, he thinks, will employ it profitably, or to those who will spend it idly, and he will laugh at you for proposing the question.

  Adam Smith

  Men   Thinking   Two  

  Adam Smith (1843). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations With a Life of the Author: Also a View of the Doctrine of Smith, Compared with that of the French Economists, with a Method of Facilitating the Study of His Works, from the French of M. Jariner”, p.144

  1354

• To hinder, besides, the farmer from selling his goods at all times to the best market, is evidently to sacrifice the ordinary laws of justice to an idea of public utility, to a sort of reasons of state; an act of legislative authority which ought to be exercised only, which can be pardoned only in cases of the most urgent necessity.

  Adam Smith

  Adam Smith, William Playfair (1811). “An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations”, p.26

  2127

• The directors of such companies, however, being the managers rather of other people's money than of their own, it cannot well be expected, that they should watch over it with the same anxious vigilance with which the partners in a private copartnery frequently watch over their own.... Negligence and profusion, therefore, must always prevail, more or less, in the management of the affairs of such a company.

  Adam Smith

  People  

  5039

• As soon as government management begins it upsets the natural equilibrium of industrial relations, and each interference only requires further bureaucratic control until the end is the tyranny of the totalitarian state.

  Adam Smith

  Government  

  2966

• In general, if any branch of trade, or any division of labour, be advantageous to the public, the freer and more general the competition, it will always be the more so.

  Adam Smith

  Adam Smith (2016). “The Wealth of Nations: the Great Master”, p.360, VM eBooks

  1796

• That this is the source of our fellow-feeling for the misery of others, that it is by changing places in fancy with the sufferer, that we come either to conceive or to be affected by what he feels, may be demonstrated by many obvious observations, if it should not be thought sufficiently evident of itself. When we see a stroke aimed and just ready to fall upon the leg or arm of another person, we naturally shrink and draw back our own leg or our own arm; and when it does fall, we feel it in some measure, and are hurt by it as well as the sufferer.

  Adam Smith

  Adam Smith (2016). “The Essays on Philosophical Subjects: the Great Master”, p.7, VM eBooks

  4303

• When the toll upon carriages of luxury, upon coaches, post-chaises, etc. is made somewhat higher in proportion to their weight, than upon carriages of necessary use, such as carts, wagons, etc. the indolence and vanity of the rich is made to contribute in a very easy manner to the relief of the poor, by rendering cheaper the transportation of heavy goods to all the different parts of the country.

  Adam Smith

  Country  

  Adam Smith, John Ramsay McCulloch (1870). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”

  207

• The world neither ever saw, nor ever will see, a perfectly fair lottery.

  Adam Smith

  Adam Smith, William Playfair (1811). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.76

  2382

• Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. The maxim is so perfectly self-evident that it would be absurd to attempt to prove it. But in the mercantile system the interest of the consumer is almost constantly sacrificed to that of the producer; and it seems to consider production, and not consumption, as the ultimate end and object of all industry and commerce.

  Adam Smith

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.274

  2089

• People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty or justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.

  Adam Smith

  Justice   People  

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 1, bk. 1, ch. 10 (1776)

  1264

• Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own gain, and he is, in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was not part of his intention.

  Adam Smith

  Invisible Hand  

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 2, bk. 4, ch. 2 (1776) See Adam Smith 1

  980

• It would be too ridiculous to go about seriously to prove that wealth does not consist in money, or in gold and silver; but in what money purchases, and is valuable only for purchasing. Money no doubt, makes always a part of the national capital; but it has already been shown that it generally makes but a small part, and always the most unprofitable part of it.

  Adam Smith

  Adam Smith (1843). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations With a Life of the Author: Also a View of the Doctrine of Smith, Compared with that of the French Economists, with a Method of Facilitating the Study of His Works, from the French of M. Jariner”, p.177

  4208

• But poverty, though it does not prevent the generation, is extremely unfavourable to the rearing of children. The tender plant is produced, but in so cold a soil, and so severe a climate, soon withers and dies.

  Adam Smith

  Adam Smith (2010). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.83, Cosimo, Inc.

  1295

• An English university is a sanctuary in which exploded systems and obsolete prejudices find shelter and protection after they have been . hunted out of every corner of the world.

  Adam Smith

  Adam Smith (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Adam Smith (Illustrated)”, p.1761, Delphi Classics

  4250

• It seldom happens, however, that a great proprietor is a great improver.

  Adam Smith

  Adam Smith (2016). “The Wealth of Nations: the Great Master”, p.421, VM eBooks

  416

• The proprietor of stock is necessarily a citizen of the world, and is not necessarily attached to any particular country.

  Adam Smith

  Country  

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.358

  1995

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