Adam Smith

The agents of [government] regard the wealth of their master as inexhaustible; are careless at what price they buy … at what price they sell.

In the midst of all the exactions of government … It is this effort, protected by law and allowed by liberty to exert itself in the manner that is most advantageous, which has maintained the progress.

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

All money is a matter of belief.

Those unproductive hands … may consume so great a share … that all the frugality and good conduct of individuals may not be able to compensate … this violent and forced encroachment.

Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality… for one very rich man, there must be at least five hundred poor.

If you go through some big corporate change, it’s just not going to be the same. If we sold to Yahoo, they would have done something different; if you want to continue your vision of the company, then don’t sell because there’s inevitably going to be some change.

In the long run people are going to buy the cheapest and the best article no matter where it is made.

Success cannot come from standstill men. Methods change and men must change with them.

Clock watchers never seem to be having a good time.

I just think people have a lot of fiction. But, you know, I mean, the real story of Facebook is just that we’ve worked so hard for all this time. I mean, the real story is actually probably pretty boring, right? I mean, we just sat at our computers for six years and coded.

I will build a motor car for the great multitude – constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. So low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one-and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.

If I had asked them what they had wanted, they would have said a faster horse.

…capitalism does live by crises and booms, just as a human being lives by inhaling and exhaling.

Paying good wages is not charity at all-it is the best kind of business.

I never aspired to be a public figure. I have always been interested primarily in real business and the development of business strategies.

Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.

Salesmanship is limitless. Our very living is selling. We are all salespeople.

No one should buy on reputation alone. They should come and see it and inspect it, feel it and touch it.

Employers only handle the money – it is the customer who pays the wages.

My philosophy is that if I have any money I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around.