Top 30 Quotes by Adam Smith

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Humanity is the virtue of a woman, generosity that of a man.

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

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.

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.

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