Great nations are never impoverished by private, though they sometimes are by public prodigality and misconduct.
Adam SmithIt is unjust that the whole of society should contribute towards an expence of which the benefit is confined to a part of the society.
Adam SmithVirtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.
Adam SmithGreat ambition, the desire of real superiority, of leading and directing, seems to be altogether peculiar to man, and speech is the great instrument of ambition.
Adam SmithThat wealth and greatness are often regarded with the respect and admiration which are due only to wisdom and virtue; and that the contempt, of which vice and folly are the only proper objects, is most often unjustly bestowed upon poverty and weakness, has been the complaint of moralists in all ages.
Adam Smith