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In a militia, the character of the laborer, artificer, or tradesman, predominates over that of the soldier: in a standing army, that of the soldier predominates over every other character.

Adam Smith

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Adam Smith
Age: 67 †
Born: 1723
Born: June 16
Died: 1790
Died: July 17
Economist
Non-Fiction Writer
Philosopher
University Teacher
Writer
Lang Toun
Standing
Artificer
Arms
Tradesman
Military
Predominates
Character
Laborer
Every
Laborers
Militia
Soldier
Army

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The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition is so powerful that it is alone, and without any assistance, capable not only of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting 100 impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations.
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In this consists the difference between the character of a miser and that of a person of exact economy and assiduity. The one is anxious about small matters for their own sake the other attends to them only in consequence of the scheme of life which he has laid down to himself.
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In general, if any branch of trade, or any division of labour, be advantageous to the public, the freer and more general the competition, it will always be the more so.
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Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality.
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The uniform, constant, and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition . . . is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural progress of things toward improvement, in spite of the extravagance of government, and of the greatest errors of administration.
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Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.
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The ancient Egyptians had a superstitious antipathy to the sea a superstition nearly of the same kind prevails among the Indians and the Chinese have never excelled in foreign commerce.
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The natural price, therefore, is, as it were, the central price, to which the prices of all commodities are continually gravitating.
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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.
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The real price of everything, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.
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The annual produce of the land and labour of any nation can be increased in its value by no other means, but by increasing either the number of its productive labourers, or the productive powers of those labourers who had before been employed.
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What can be added to the happiness of the man who is in health, who is out of debt, and has a clear conscience?
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The proprietor of stock is necessarily a citizen of the world, and is not necessarily attached to any particular country.
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Great nations are never impoverished by private, though they sometimes are by public prodigality and misconduct.
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The property which every man has in his own labour, as it is the original foundation of all other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable.
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What is prudence in the conduct of every private family can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom.
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It is the natural effect of improvement, however, to diminish gradually the real price of almost all manufactures.
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