THE THEORY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENT (1759)
Motives of human behavior
“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 self-interest.”
“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it. Of this kind is pity or compassion, the emotion which we feel for the misery of others, when we either see it, or are made it to conceive it in a very lively manner. That we often derive sorrow from the sorrows of others, is a matter of fact too obvious to require any instances to prove it.”
THE WEALTH OF NATIONS (1776)
Division of labor => Productivity
“…the important part in making a pin is this manner, divided in about 18 distinct operations, which, in some manufactories, are all performed by different hands, though in others the same man will sometimes perform 2 or 3 of them.”
“…this great increase in the quantity of work, which in consequence of the division of labor, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to 3 different circumstances:
1) The increase in dexterity of every particular workman;
2) The saving of the time which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another;
3) The invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labor, and enable one man to do the work of many.”
Market prices and natural prices
“The market price of every particular commodity is regulated by the proportion between the quantity which is brought to the market, and the demand of those who are willing to pay the natural price of the commodity.”
“The natural price is the central price to which the prices of all commodities are gravitating.”
Distribution of income and social classes
“The whole annual produce of every country naturally divides itself into 3 parts: the rent of land; the wages of labor; and the profits of stock.”
“Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor.”
ADVISING TO THE GOVERNMENT
“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.”
“…he (i.e., the landlord) will be not only ignorant, but incapable of that application of mind needed to become an intelligent advisor to the country.”
“The man whose life is spent in performing a few simple operations (i.e., the laborer)…generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become.”
“…his dexterity at his own particular trade seems, in this manner, to be acquired at the expense of his intellectual, social, and martial virtues. But in every improved and civilized society this is the state into which the laboring poor, that is, the great body of the people, must necessarily fall, unless the government takes some pains to prevent it.”