Adam Smith quotes

Adam Smith was a Scottish economist and philosopher, widely regarded as the father of modern economics. His influential work "The Wealth of Nations" laid the foundations for classical economic theory and ideas such as the invisible hand. He remains an enduring figure in the history of economic thought. Here are 232 of his quotes:

Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition. (Adam Smith)
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. View quote
Adam Smith
The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman is that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his negligence. View quote
Adam Smith
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 or order of men. View quote
Adam Smith
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. View quote
Adam Smith
All money is a matter of belief. View quote
Adam Smith
Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience. View quote
Adam Smith
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. View quote
Adam Smith
The government of an exclusive company of merchants is, perhaps, the worst of all governments for any country whatever. View quote
Adam Smith
To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers, but extremely fit for a nation that is governed by shopkeepers. View quote
Adam Smith
It may indeed be doubted, whether butcher's meat is any where a necessary of life. Grain and other vegetables, with the help of milk, cheese, and butter, or oil, where butter is not to be had, it is known from experience, can, without any butcher's meat, afford the most plentiful, the most wholesome, the most nourishing, and the most invigorating diet. (Adam Smith)
Though the principles of the banking trade may appear somewhat abstruse, the practice is capable of being reduced to strict rules. To depart upon any occasion from those rules, is consequence of some flattering speculation of extraordinary gain, is almost always extremely dangerous, and frequently fatal to the banking company which attempts it. View quote
Adam Smith
Mercantile jealousy is excited, and both inflames, and is itself inflamed, by the violence of national animosity:... View quote
Adam Smith
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. View quote
Adam Smith
Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. View quote
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. View quote
Adam Smith
Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this - no dog exchanges bones with another. View quote
Adam Smith
Corn is a necessary, silver is only a superfluity. View quote
Adam Smith
Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality. View quote
Adam Smith
All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind. View quote
Adam Smith
Goods can serve many other purposes besides purchasing money, but money can serve no other purpose besides purchasing goods. (Adam Smith)
A merchant, it has been said very properly, is not necessarily the citizen of any particular country. View quote
Adam Smith
In ease of body, peace of mind, all the different ranks of life are nearly upon a level and the beggar who suns himself by the side of the highway, possesses that security which kings are fighting for. View quote
Adam Smith
The world neither ever saw, nor ever will see, a perfectly fair lottery. View quote
Adam Smith
But though empires, like all the other works of men, have all hitherto proved mortal, yet every empire aims at immortality. View quote
Adam Smith