The cheapness of wine seems to be a cause, not of drunkenness, but of sobriety. ...People are seldom guilty of excess in what is their daily fare... On the contrary, in the countries which, either from excessive heat or cold, produce no grapes, and where wine consequently is dear and a rarity, drunkenness is a common vice.
Adam SmithWhen the profits of trade happen to be greater than ordinary, over-trading becomes a general error both among great and small dealers.
Adam SmithThe natural price, therefore, is, as it were, the central price, to which the prices of all commodities are continually gravitating.
Adam SmithWhatever work he does, beyond what is sufficient to purchase his own maintenance, can be squeezed out of him by violence only, and not by any interest of his own.
Adam SmithIn the long-run the workman may be as necessary to his master as his master is to him, but the necessity is not so immediate.
Adam Smith