Adam Smith: The best phrases of a great philosopher and thinker of the 18th century

Adam Smith was a Scottish philosopher and economist. He is considered one of the main exponents of the philosophy of economics and classical economics, and has gone down in history for his work ‘The Wealth of Nations’, published in 1776 . Considered the father of modern economics, he was the first to do an in-depth study of the process of creation and accumulation of wealth. Below we have selected some of Adam Smith’s best quotes , which are worth reflecting on.

Adam Smith’s Phrases

1. If you approach a situation as a matter of life and death, you will die many times.
2. As soon as the land has become private property, the landlord demands a share of almost all the products that the worker can produce or collect on it.
3. No society can be happy and prosperous if most of its citizens are poor and miserable.
4. Many people pass through our lives, but only very few come to occupy a great place in our hearts.
5. We are but one of the crowd, in no way better than anyone else in it.
6. Every man overvalues his chances of success to some extent and most underestimates his chances of failure.
7. The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.
8. Resentment seems to have been given to us by nature as a defense and only as a defense. It is the safeguard of justice and the security of innocence.
9. There is nothing in life more unexpected or surprising than the appearance and the fading of pleasure.
10. The difference between two totally different people, such as a philosopher and a common porter, seems to arise not so much from nature as from habit, custom, and education.
11. Each individual always strives to find the most profitable investment for the capital he has.
12. If we meet him in a place today, it will be in vain to look for him there tomorrow. It is not possible to tie ties to catch him.
13. It is a great impertinence and presumption of kings and ministers to pretend to monitor the private economy of citizens and restrict their spending.
14. By pursuing his own interest, he often furthers that of society much more than if he were actually trying to further it.
15. Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.