Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.

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.

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

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

The theory that can absorb the greatest number of facts, and persist in doing so, generation after generation, through all changes of opinion and detail, is the one that must rule all observation.

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.

The first thing you have to know is yourself. A man who knows himself can step outside himself and watch his own reactions like an observer.