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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 their own interest.”

— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter II

“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.”

— The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part I, Section I, Chapter I

“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 no part of his intention.”

— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chapter II

“To feel much for others and little for ourselves, that to restrain our selfish, and to indulge our benevolent affections, constitutes the perfection of human nature.”

— The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part I, Section I, Chapter V

“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.”

— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter I

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

— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter VIII

“Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.”

— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book V, Chapter I, Part III, Article III

“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.”

— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chapter VIII

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

— The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part I, Section III, Chapter II

“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.”

— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter V

“The man of system... is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is so enamoured with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government, that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it.”

— The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part VI, Section II, Chapter II

“Defense, however, is of much more importance than opulence.”

— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chapter II

“This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition... is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.”

— The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part I, Section III, Chapter III

“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.”

— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chapter IX