Adam Smith

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.

Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.

Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this – no dog exchanges bones with another.

No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.

The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.