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

Upstart greatness is everywhere less respected than ancient greatness.

A gardener who cultivates his own garden with his own hands, unites in his own person the three different characters, of landlord, farmer, and labourer. His produce, therefore, should pay him the rent of the first, the profit of the second, and the wages of the third.

Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor.

In general, if any branch of trade, or any division of labour, be advantageous to the public, the freer and more general the competition, it will always be the more so.

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

A monopoly granted either to an individual or to a trading company has the same effect as a secret in trade or manufactures. The monopolists, by keeping the market constantly understocked, by never fully supplying the effectual demand, sell their commodities much above the natural price, and raise their emoluments, whether they consist in wages or profit, greatly above their natural rate.