The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.
Economists
Born in Scotland in 1723, Adam Smith
Born in Scotland in 1723, Adam Smith was a moral philosopher who founded modern economics. The Wealth of Nations (1776) showed how self-interest and division of labor generate prosperity through market mechanisms.
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Born in Scotland in 1723, Adam Smith's Other Quotes
Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.
Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.
No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.
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.
Every individual... neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it... he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.