Adam Smith Quotes
Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men. The sovereign is completely discharged from a duty, in the attempting to perform which he must always be exposed to innumerable delusions, and for the proper performance of which no human wisdom or knowledge could ever be sufficient; the duty of superintending the industry of private people, and of directing it towards the employments most suitable to the interest of the society.
Adam Smith, 1723-1790, Scottish Political Economist, The Wealth of Nations, 1776
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
[Most theoretical conservative economists believe this. When presented with the reality of market systems where great damage was done to people and areas, as in the Great Depression of 1929 and the Great Recession in 2008, they tend to argue that these were not really free markets—–that for various reasons, often they argue that government interference, corrupted the free market. Almost all economists would agree that if there were real highly competitive market his quote would be corrupt, but many have shown that the very greed that is produced by a free market tends to make the major players transform the market to reduce their risk and increase their power, thus producing monopoly, oligarchy, collusion, and anti-competitive practices. Greed is never harmless if it gets enough power.]
Adam Smith FRSA was a Scottish economist, philosopher as well as a moral philosopher, a pioneer of political economy, and a key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment, also known as ''The Father of Economics'' or ''The Father of Capitalism''. Smith wrote two classic works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, often abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. In his work, Adam Smith introduced his theory of absolute advantage.
