To remedy the frequent distresses of the common people, the poor laws of England have been instituted; but it is to be feared that though they may have alleviated a little the intensity of individual misfortune, they have spread the general evil over a much larger surface.

A writer may tell me that he thinks man will ultimately become an ostrich. I cannot properly contradict him.

If a country can only be rich by running a successful race for low wages, I should be disposed to say at once, perish such riches!

The ordeal of virtue is to resist all temptation to evil.

The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.

When Hume and Adam Smith prophesied that a little increase of national debt beyond the then amount of it, would probably occasion bankruptcy; the main cause of their error was the natural one, of not being able to see the vast increase of productive power to which the nation would subsequently obtain.

Where are we to look for the consumption required but among the unproductive labourers of Adam Smith?.