When The Profits Of Trade

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.

I Have No Great Faith In Political Arithmetic, And I Mean Not To Warrant The Exactness Of Either Of These Computations.

The Interest Of [businessmen] Is Always In Some Respects Different From, And Even Opposite To, That Of The Public ... The Proposal Of Any New Law Or Regulation Of Commerce Which Comes From This Order ... Ought Never To Be Adopted, Till After Having Been Long And Carefully Examined ... With The Most Suspicious Attention. It Comes From An Order Of Men ... Who Have Generally An Interest To Deceive And Even Oppress The Public.

The Interest Of The Dealers, However, In Any Particular Branch Of Trade Or Manufactures, Is Always In Some Respects Different From, And Even Opposite To, That Of The Public. To Widen The Market And To Narrow The Competition, Is Always The Interest Of The Dealers.

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.