Adam Smith citáty

„Ničemu se jedna vláda od druhé nenaučí rychleji než umění tahat z kapes lidí peníze.“

—  Adam Smith

„Cítit hodně pro druhé a málo pro sebe, odstranit to sobecké v nás a dát průchod svým dobrotivým vlastnostem vytváří dokonalost lidské přirozenosti.“

—  Adam Smith

„Neočekáváme, že svůj oběd dostaneme z dobré vůle řezníka, pivovarníka či pekaře, nýbrž v důsledku toho, že všichni jmenovaní sledují vlastní zájem.“

—  Adam Smith

Originál: (en) 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.
Zdroj: Muller, Jerry Z., str. 71

„Lidskost je ctností žen, velkodušnost ctností mužů.“

—  Adam Smith

„Při zaměstnání nižšího druhu celá rozkoš z práce tkví v odměně za ni.“

—  Adam Smith

„Člověk je živočich, který obchoduje.“

—  Adam Smith

„Krásný jsem pouze ve svém díle.“

—  Adam Smith

Chybí zdroj
o sobě

„Strach je téměř ve všech případech ubohý vládní nástroj.“

—  Adam Smith

„Zboží může kromě nákupu peněz sloužit i mnoha jiným účelům, ale peníze nemohou sloužit kromě nákupu zboží jinému účelu.“

—  Adam Smith

„Věda je účinná protilátka proti jedu nekritického myšlení a pověr.“

—  Adam Smith

Originál: (en) Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.
Zdroj: [Muller, Jerry Z., Adam Smith in his time and ours: designing the decent society, Princeton University Press, 1995, 978-0-69100-161-6, 161, anglicky]

„Každý systém, který se snaží, prostřednictvím mimořádných pobídek, přitáhnout ke konkrétnímu druhu průmyslu větší podíl na kapitálu společnosti, než by tomu bylo přirozeně; nebo, za mimořádných omezení, donutit od určitého druhu průmyslu část kapitálu, která by jinak byla v něm použita; je ve skutečnosti podvratný velkému účelu, který znamená propagovat.“

—  Adam Smith

„The value which the workmen add“

—  Adam Smith

Zdroj: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book I, Chapter VI, p. 58.
Kontext: The value which the workmen add to the materials, therefore, resolves itself in this case into two parts, of which the one pays their wages, the other the profits of the employer upon the whole stock of materials and wages which he advanced.

„They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.“

—  Adam Smith

Zdroj: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book I, Chapter IX, p. 117.
Kontext: Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of their goods both at home and abroad. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.

„Fear is in almost all cases a wretched instrument of government“

—  Adam Smith

Zdroj: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book V, Chapter I, Part III, p. 862.
Kontext: Fear is in almost all cases a wretched instrument of government, and ought in particular never to be employed against any order of men who have the smallest pretensions to independency.

„The retinue of a grandee in China or Indostan“

—  Adam Smith

Zdroj: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book I, Chapter XI, Part III, Third Period, p. 240.
Kontext: The retinue of a grandee in China or Indostan accordingly is, by all accounts, much more numerous and splendid than that of the richest subjects of Europe.

„By nature a philosopher is not in genius and disposition half so different from a street porter“

—  Adam Smith

Zdroj: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book I, Chapter II, p. 17.
Kontext: By nature a philosopher is not in genius and disposition half so different from a street porter, as a mastiff is from a greyhound

„Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production“

—  Adam Smith

Zdroj: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book IV, Chapter VIII, p. 719.
Kontext: Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.

„The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution“

—  Adam Smith

Zdroj: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book I, Chapter XI, Part III, Conclusion of the Chapter, p. 292.
Kontext: The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.

„Lands for the purposes of pleasure and magnificence“

—  Adam Smith

Zdroj: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book V, Chapter II, Part I, p. 891.
Kontext: Lands for the purposes of pleasure and magnificence, parks, gardens, public walks, &c. possessions which are every where considered as causes of expence, not as sources of revenue, seem to be the only lands which, in a great and civilized monarchy, ought to belong the crown.