Quotes from Adam Smith

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Adam Smith's Quotes

Quotes from Adam Smith
Here are some notable quotes from Adam Smith, the Scottish economist and philosopher:

1. "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." (from "The Wealth of Nations")
2. "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." (from "The Wealth of Nations")
3. "The real price of everything, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it." (from "The Wealth of Nations")
4. "No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable." (from "The Wealth of Nations")
5. "To feel much for others and little for ourselves; to restrain our selfishness and exercise our benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of human nature." (from "The Theory of Moral Sentiments")
6. "Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man." (from "The Wealth of Nations")
7. "Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all." (from "The Wealth of Nations")
8. "It is not the actual greatness of national wealth, but its continual increase, which occasions a rise in the wages of labor." (from "The Wealth of Nations")
9. "Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition." (from "The Wealth of Nations")
10. "The first duty of the sovereign, that of protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies, can be performed only by means of a military force." (from "The Wealth of Nations")

These quotes reflect some of Adam Smith's ideas on economics, self-interest, the role of government, and the nature of human behavior.