Scottish
Philosopher and
Political Economist
(June 16,
1723 -
July 17,
1790)
"All money is a matter of belief."
"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."
"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."
"Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this - no dog exchanges bones with another."
"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."
"The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations."
"Such is the delicacy of man alone, that no object is produced to his liking. He finds that in everything there is need for improvement.... The whole industry of human life is employed not in procuring the supply of our three humble necessities, food, clothes and lodging, but in procuring the conveniences of it according to the nicety and delicacy of our tastes."
"The uniform, constant and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition, the principle from which public and national, as well as private opulence is originally derived, is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural progress of things toward improvement, in spite both of the extravagance of government, and of the greatest errors of administration."
"Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience."
"What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?"
