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.

The property which every man has in his own labour, as it is the original foundation of all other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable.

The ancient Egyptians had a superstitious antipathy to the sea; a superstition nearly of the same kind prevails among the Indians; and the Chinese have never excelled in foreign commerce.

What can be added to the happiness of the man who is in health, who is out of debt, and has a clear conscience?

The natural price, therefore, is, as it were, the central price, to which the prices of all commodities are continually gravitating.

China is a much richer country than any part of Europe.

People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty or justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.