Adam Smith Quotes

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
Adam Smith

Business, Expect, Interest

No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.
Adam Smith

Society, Happy, Poor

To feel much for others and little for ourselves; to restrain our selfishness and exercise our benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of human nature.
Adam Smith

Nature, Human, Others

Labour was the first price, the original purchase - money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all wealth of the world was originally purchased.
Adam Smith

Money, Wealth, Original

As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce.
Adam Smith

Love, Men, Country

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

Finance, Men, Another

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

Peace, Justice, Else

Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.
Adam Smith

Science, Great, Enthusiasm

The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.
Adam Smith

Real, Poor, Poverty

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

Another, Makes, Dog

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.
Adam Smith

Adventure upon all the tickets in the lottery, and you lose for certain; and the greater the number of your tickets the nearer your approach to this certainty.
Adam Smith

Science, Lose, Adventure

On the road from the City of Skepticism, I had to pass through the Valley of Ambiguity.
Adam Smith

Through, Road, City

All money is a matter of belief.
Adam Smith

Finance, Money, Matter

Happiness never lays its finger on its pulse.
Adam Smith

Happiness, Finger, Pulse

No complaint... is more common than that of a scarcity of money.
Adam Smith

Money, Common, Complaint

Resentment seems to have been given us by nature for a defense, and for a defense only! It is the safeguard of justice and the security of innocence.
Adam Smith

Nature, Justice, Security

Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.
Adam Smith

Conscience, Virtue, Subject

Labor was the first price, the original purchase - money that was paid for all things.
Adam Smith

Money, Labor, Original

I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.
Adam Smith

Good, Done, Public

It is not by augmenting the capital of the country, but by rendering a greater part of that capital active and productive than would otherwise be so, that the most judicious operations of banking can increase the industry of the country.
Adam Smith

Country, Greater, Industry

With the greater part of rich people, the chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches.
Adam Smith

Rich, Greater, Enjoyment

Great ambition, the desire of real superiority, of leading and directing, seems to be altogether peculiar to man, and speech is the great instrument of ambition.
Adam Smith

Great, Real, Ambition

The theory that can absorb the greatest number of facts, and persist in doing so, generation after generation, through all changes of opinion and detail, is the one that must rule all observation.
Adam Smith

Greatest, Through, After

What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?
Adam Smith

Happiness, Health, Conscience

Share with your Friends

Everyone likes a good quote - don't forget to share.

Biography

Nationality: Scottish

Type: Economist

Born: June 5, 1723

Died: July 17, 1790

Links

Find on Amazon: Adam Smith

Cite this Page: Citation

Popular Topics

Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

Related Authors

Thomas Sowell
Milton Friedman
John Kenneth Galbraith
John Maynard Keynes
Friedrich August von Hayek
Alan Greenspan
Stephen Leacock

Get Social with BrainyQuote

BrainyQuote Desktop

BrainyQuote Mobile

Site

Quote of the Day

Social

BQ on Pinterest

Syndication

Funny Quote Feed

Love Quote Feed

Nature Quote Feed

About Us