Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this - no dog exchanges bones with another.

We are but one of the multitude, in no respect better than any other in it.

The importation of gold and silver is not the principal, much less the sole benefit which a nation derives from its foreign trade.

It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense. They are themselves, always, and without any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society.

I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.

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

In raising the price of commodities, the rise of wages operates in the same manner as simple interest does in the accumulation of debt. Our merchants and master manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of their goods, both at home and abroad. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits; they are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.