On the Wealth of Nations

  – Wealth, book 527

  Free Enterprise, the Unpolitical Power of

  Though the profusion of government must, undoubtedly, have retarded the natural progress of England towards wealth and improvement, it has not been able to stop it.

  – Wealth, book 228

  Good Cheer, Its Relationship to the National Current Account Deficit

  To attempt to increase the wealth of any country, either by introducing or by detaining in it an unnecessary quantity of gold and silver, is as absurd as it would be to attempt to increase the good cheer of private families, by obliging them to keep an unnecessary number of kitchen utensils.

  – Wealth, book 429

  Greed, Why It Really Is Good and How a Greedy Mind Destroys Monopolistic Combinations among Merchants and Manufacturers

  In a free trade an effectual combination cannot be established but by the unanimous consent of every single trader, and it cannot last longer than every single trader continues of the same mind.

  – Wealth, book 130

  Hate Crimes, Prosecution for

  Sentiments, thoughts, intentions, would become the objects of punishment … Every court of judicature would become a real inquisition. There would be no safety for the most innocent and circumspect conduct. Bad wishes, bad views, bad designs, might still be suspected.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 2 31

  Hilton, Paris, the Numerous Feuds of, Explained

  Rivalship and emulation render excellency, even in mean professions, an object of ambition, and frequently occasion the very greatest exertions.

  – Wealth, book 532

  Homeless, an Alternative View on the

  The beggar, who suns himself by the side of the highway, possesses that security which kings are fighting for.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 433

  Husbands

  It is the interest of every man to live as much at his ease as he can; and if his emoluments are to be precisely the same, whether he does, or does not perform some very laborious duty, it is certainly his interest … either to neglect it altogether, or, if he is subject to some authority which will not suffer him to do this, to perform it in as careless and slovenly a manner as that authority will permit.

  – Wealth, book 534

  Husbands, Continued

  To seem not to be affected with the joy of our companions is but want of politeness; but not to wear a serious countenance when they tell us their afflictions, is a real and gross inhumanity.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 135

  Immigration, Excessive Worries about

  A man is of all sorts of luggage the most difficult to be transported.

  – Wealth, book 136

  Interior Decoration, Novel Suggestion for

  Trophies of the instruments of music or of agriculture, imitated in painting or in stucco, make a common and an agreeable ornament of our halls and dining-rooms. A trophy of the same kind, composed of the instruments of surgery, of dissecting and amputation-knives, of saws for cutting bones, … etc. would be absurd and shocking.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 137

  Italy

  Italy still continues to command some sort of veneration by the number of monuments which it possesses, though the wealth which produced them has decayed, and though the genius which planned them seems to be extinguished.

  – Wealth, book 238

  Limousine Liberals, Explanation for

  The owners of great capitals … have generally either some direct share, or some indirect influence, in the administration of government. For the sake of the respect and authority which they derive from this situation, they are willing to live in a country where their capital … will bring them less profit.

  – Wealth, book 539

  Limousine Liberals, Real Explanation for

  In public, as well as in private expences, great wealth may, perhaps, frequently be admitted as an apology for great folly.

  – Wealth, book 440

  Living Standards, Modern

  The accommodation of a European prince does not always so much exceed that of an industrious and frugal peasant, as the accommodation of the latter exceeds that of many an African king, the absolute master of the lives and liberties of ten thousand naked savages.

  – Wealth, book 141

  Malthus, Thomas, Refuted

  The most decisive mark of the prosperity of any country is the increase of the number of its inhabitants.

  – Wealth, book 142

  Malthus, Thomas, Refuted Again

  The demand for men, like that for any other commodity, necessarily regulates the production of men.

  – Wealth, book 143

  Monarchy or Democracy, Which Is Worse?

  England … in time of peace, has generally conducted itself with the slothful and negligent profusion that is perhaps natural to monarchies; and in time of war has constantly acted with all the thoughtless extravagance that democracies are apt to fall into.

  – Wealth, book 544

  Money

  Money … is a steady friend.

  – Wealth, book 445

  Money, a Steady Friend When We Can Find Him

  When we have money we can more readily obtain whatever else we have occasion for, than by means of any other commodity. The great affair, we always find, is to get money.

  – Wealth, book 446

  Nuclear Proliferation, Bright Side of

  Hereafter … the inhabitants of all the different quarters of the world may arrive at that equality of courage and force which, by inspiring mutual fear, can alone overawe the injustice of independent nations into some sort of respect for the rights of one another.

  – Wealth, book 447

  Off-Broadway Play, Idea for

  The loss of a leg may generally be regarded as a more real calamity than the loss of a mistress. It would be a ridiculous tragedy, however, of which the catastrophe was to turn upon a loss of that kind.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 148

  Planning, Central, Nature of in USSR Foreseen

  The fear of punishment can never be a motive of sufficient weight to force a continual and careful attention to a business.

  – Wealth, book 549

  Politics, Inherent Evil of Explained

  It is unjust that the whole society should contribute towards an expence of which the benefit is confined to a part of the society.

  – Wealth, book 550

  Poor, but Happy

  The vices of levity are always ruinous to the common people.

  – Wealth, book 551

  Presidents, Ex-

  Of all the discarded statesmen who for their own ease have studied to get the better of ambition, and to dispise those honours which they could no longer arrive at, how few have been able to succeed?

  – Moral Sentiments, part 152

  Presidents, Ex-, Continued

  With what impatience does the man of spirit and ambition, who is depressed by his situation, look round for some great opportunity to distinguish himself? … He even looks forward with satisfaction to the prospect of foreign war, or civil dissension.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 153

  Pride and Vanity, in Defense of

  Pride is frequently attended with many respectable virtues … Vanity, with many amiable ones.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 654

  Quality, Guarantees of

  Quality is so very disputable a matter, that I look upon all information of this kind as somewhat uncertain.

  – Wealth, book 155

  Reagan, Ronald, Original Source of a Phrase Popularly Attributed to

  [Re: the East India Company] … waste which the fraud and abuse, inseparable from the management of the affairs of so great a company, must necessarily have occasioned.

  – Wealth, book 456

  Rich, the

  With the greater part of rich people, the chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches, which in their eye is never so complete as w
hen they appear to possess those decisive marks of opulence which nobody can possess but themselves.

  – Wealth, book 157

  Riche, the Nouveau

  Their wealth would alone excite the public indignation, and the vanity which almost always accompanies such upstart fortunes, the foolish ostentation with which they commonly display that wealth, excites that indignation still more.

  – Wealth, book 558

  Ruin, National

  Be assured, there is a great deal of ruin in a nation.

  – Smith, to a young man who'd brought him

  the news of the British defeat at Saratoga,

  saying the nation must be ruined59

  Santa Claus, Why We Tell Children There Is a

  There seems to be in young children an instinctive disposition to believe whatever they are told. Nature seems to have judged it necessary for their preservation that they should … put implicit confidence in those to whom the care of their childhood … is entrusted. Their credulity, accordingly, is excessive, and it requires long and much experience of the falsehood of mankind to reduce them to a reasonable degree of diffidence and distrust.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 760

  Scholars

  Before the invention of the art of printing, a scholar and a beggar seem to have been terms very nearly synonymous.

  – Wealth, book 161

  Shopping

  What is over and above satisfying the limited desire, is given for the amusement of those desires which cannot be satisfied, but seem to be altogether endless.

  – Wealth, book 162

  Social Security Explained

  [In ancient Athens] children were acquitted from maintaining those parents in their old age, who had neglected to instruct them in some profitable trade or business.

  – Wealth, book 563

  Statistics, Everything You Need to Know about the Government's

  I have no great faith in political arithmetic.

  – Wealth, book 464

  Success, Pro and Con

  Power and riches … are enormous and operose machines … consisting of springs the most nice and delicate, which must be kept in order with the most anxious attention, and which in spite of all our care are ready every moment to burst into pieces, and to crush in their ruins their unfortunate possessor …

  The pleasures of wealth and greatness … strike the imagination as something grand and beautiful and noble, of which the attainment is well worth all the toil and anxiety which we are so apt to bestow upon it. And it is well that nature imposes upon us in this manner. It is this deception which rouses and keeps in continual motion the industry of mankind.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 465

  Televangelists

  Mendicant friars, whose beggary being not only licensed, but consecrated by religion, [are] a most grievous tax upon the poor people.

  – Wealth, book 466

  Televangelists, Success vs. Mainstream Protestant Clergy

  Such a clergy, when attacked by a set of popular and bold, though perhaps stupid and ignorant enthusiasts, feel themselves as perfectly defenceless as the indolent, effeminate, and full-fed nations of the southern parts of Asia, when they were invaded by the active, hardy, and hungry Tartars of the North.

  – Wealth, book 567

  Tourists, the Kind Who Come Home Raving about the Excellence of Mass Transportation in Other Countries

  In China, … the high roads, and still more the navigable canals, it is pretended, exceed very much every thing of the same kind which is known in Europe. The accounts of those works, however, which have been transmitted to Europe, have generally been drawn up by weak and wondering travellers; frequently by stupid and lying missionaries.

  – Wealth, book 568

  UN

  The regard for the laws of nations, or for those rules which independent states profess or pretend to think themselves bound to observe in their dealings with one another, is often very little more than mere pretence and profession.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 669

  Veracity, Legislative

  The printed debates of the House of Commons [are] not always the most authentic records of truth.

  – Wealth, book 570

  Verse, Blank

  They do well to call it blank, for blank it is. I myself even, who never could find a single rhyme in my life, could make blank verse as fast as I could speak.

  – Smith, to an anonymous newspaper interviewer71

  Virtue, Economic Analysis of

  The late resolution of the Quakers in Pennsylvania to set at liberty all their negro slaves, may satisfy us that their number cannot be very great.

  – Wealth, book 372

  Wages, Too Low Compared to Profits

  The demand for those who live by wages … naturally increases with the increase of national wealth, and cannot possibly increase without it.

  – Wealth, book 173

  Wages, Too High Compared to Profits

  The liberal reward of labour … to complain of it, is to lament over the necessary effect and cause of the greatest public prosperity.

  – Wealth, book 174

  War, as an Economic Stimulus without Which We Would Be Better Off

  In the midst of the most destructive foreign war, … the greater part of manufactures may frequently flourish greatly; and, on the contrary, they may decline on the return of the peace. They may flourish amidst the ruin of their country, and begin to decay upon the return of its prosperity.

  – Wealth, book 475

  War, Public Fondness for

  In great empires the people who live in the capital, and in the provinces remote from the scene of action, feel, many of them, scarce any inconveniency from the war; but enjoy, at their ease, the amusement of reading in the newspapers the exploits of their own fleets and armies. To them this amusement compensates the small difference between the taxes which they pay on account of the war, and those which they had been accustomed to pay in time of peace. They are commonly dissatisfied with the return of peace, which puts an end to their amusement.

  – Wealth, book 576

  War, Smith's Plan for Curtailment of

  Were the expence of war to be defrayed always by a revenue raised within the year, … wars would in general be more speedily concluded, and less wantonly undertaken.

  – Wealth, book 577

  Wives

  The fair-sex, who have commonly much more tenderness than ours, have seldom so much generosity.

  – Moral Sentiments, part 478

  NOTES

  CAS

  Correspondence of Adam Smith. Edited by E.C. Mossner and I.S. Ross. Oxford, 1977. Liberty Fund, 1987.

  DS

  Stewart, Dugald. Collected Works. Vol. 10, Biographical Memoirs of Adam Smith, William Robertson, Thomas Reid. Edinburgh: T. Constable, 1858.

  EPS

  Essays on Philosophical Subjects. Edited by W.P. D. Wightman and J.C. Bryce. Oxford, 1980. Liberty Fund, 1982.

  ISR

  Ross, Ian Simpson. The Life of Adam Smith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

  LJ

  Lectures on Jurisprudence. Edited by R.L. Meek, D.D. Raphael, and P.G. Stein. Oxford, 1978. Liberty Fund, 1982.

  Rae

  Rae, John. Life of Adam Smith. London: Macmillan, 1895.

  TMS

  The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Edited by D.D. Raphael and A.L. Macfie. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976. Reprint, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982.

  TRTS

  Hayek, Friedrich A. von. The Road to Serfdom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944.

  West

  West, E.G. Adam Smith. New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1969.

  W/L

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (2 vols.), edited by R.H. Campbell and A.S. Skinner, Oxford, 1976; Liberty Fund, 1981.

  W/ML

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Edited by Edwin Ca
nnan. New York: Modern Library, 1937.

  Chapter 1

  1. W/ML 715

  2. W/ML 90

  3. DS 52

  4. TMS 226

  5. W/L 782

  6. W/ML lix

  Chapter 2

  1. W/ML 932

  2. W/L 124

  3. TMS 28

  4. West 111

  5. Rae 269

  6. W/ML 214

  7. W/ML 552

  8. W/ML 467

  9. CAS 387

  10. W/ML 148

  11. W/L 388

  12. W/ML xliii

  Chapter 3

  1. W/L 471

  2. W/ML 584

  3. EPS 105

  4. Ibid.

  5. TMS 82

  6. TMS 9

  7. TMS 16

  8. TMS 9

  9. TMS 106

  10. TMS 304

  11. TMS 137

  12. Ibid.

  13. TMS 247

  14. TMS 86

  15. Ibid.

  16. TMS 142

  17. TMS 241

  18. TMS 25

  19. TMS 184

  20. TMS 118

  21. TMS 25

  22. TMS 219

  23. TMS 272

  24. W/ML 14

  25. TMS 77

  26. TMS 292

  Chapter 4

  1. W/ML 15