30 phrases by Adam Smith to know the modern economy – 42 Phrases

Where there is great property, there is great inequality. For the very rich, there are at least five hundred poor people, and the wealth of the few presumes the indigence of the many.

The universal ambition of men is to live by reaping what they never sowed.

In those corrupt governments, where there is at least a general suspicion of a great deal of unnecessary expenditure and great misappropriation of public income, the laws prohibiting smuggling are very little respected.

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

What will generate the wealth of nations is the fact that each individual seeks their personal economic development and growth.

It is the fear of losing your job that curbs your fraud and corrects your negligence.

People of the same trade seldom meet, even in mirth or amusement, but if it takes place, the conversation ends up in conspiracy against the public, or in any artifice to raise prices.

The real value of things is the effort and trouble of acquiring them.

The disposition to admire and almost idolize the rich and powerful, and at the same time to despise and neglect the poor, is the greatest and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.

The State must not interfere in the economy, it adjusts itself.

Envy is the passion that looks with malignant disgust at the superiority of those who are really entitled to all the superiority they possess.

The great secret of education consists in directing vanity towards the right goals.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, and the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for their own interests.

Competition from the poor takes away the reward from the rich.

Every individual is continually striving to find the most advantageous employment for the capital he can command.

Man is an animal that makes bargains.

There is no other art that a government learns as quickly as the art of taking money out of people’s pockets.

Happiness is what we gain by acting.

Civil government, when instituted solely for the protection of private property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, of the haves against the have-nots.

It is unfair that the whole society contributes to defray an expense whose benefit goes to only a part of that society.

What can be added to the happiness of the man who enjoys good health, is free from debt, and has a clear conscience?

The wealth of a nation is measured by the wealth of the people and not by the wealth of princes.

Little else is needed to build a State, from the most primitive barbarism to the highest degree of opulence, apart from peace, low taxes and good administration of justice: all the rest runs by the natural course of things.

Humanity is a woman’s virtue, generosity is a man’s virtue.

Those who sooner are in a position to enjoy their compensation, the sooner they will enjoy work.

Nothing but the most exemplary morals can give dignity to the most modest men.

A man becomes rich by employing a multitude of workers, and he becomes poor by maintaining a multitude of servants.

The only use of money is to circulate consumable goods.

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

Consumption is the sole end and the sole purpose of all production.