The importation of gold and silver is not the principal, much less the sole benefit which a nation derives from its foreign trade.
Adam SmithBut though empires, like all the other works of men, have all hitherto proved mortal, yet every empire aims at immortality.
Adam SmithMen desire to have some share in the management of public affairs chiefly on account of the importance which it gives them.
Adam SmithThe interest of [businessmen] is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public ... The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order ... ought never to be adopted, till after having been long and carefully examined ... with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men ... who have generally an interest to deceive and even oppress the public.
Adam Smith