If the land was divided among all the inhabitants of a country, so that each of them possessed precisely the quantity necessary for his support, and nothing more; it is evident that all of them being equal, no one would work for another. Neither would any of them possess wherewith to pay another for his labour, for each person having only such a quantity of land as was necessary to produce a subsistence, would consume all he should gather, and would not have any thing to give in exchange for the labour of others.
Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de LauneEripuit coelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis. He snatched the lightning from the sky and the sceptre from tyrants.
Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de LauneThe whole mass of humanity . . . marches constantly, though slowly, toward greater perfection.
Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune