Resentment seems to have been given us by nature for a defense, and for a defense only! It is the safeguard of justice and the security of innocence.
Adam SmithRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Self-interest drives economic activity and supply.
This quote by Adam Smith highlights the fundamental principle of economics that individuals and businesses act based on their self-interest. Rather than relying on the goodwill of others, such as butchers, brewers, and bakers, we benefit from their pursuit of profit, which in turn provides for our needs, demonstrating the interconnectedness of economic roles in society.
Themes
Self-InterestEconomicsDinnerTradeCooperation
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about market dynamics, you can mention, 'As Adam Smith stated, our access to goods comes from the self-interest of producers.'
More from Adam Smith
All quotes βWherever there is great property, there is great inequality.
Adam SmithRead
This is one of those cases in which the imagination is baffled by the facts.
Adam SmithRead
The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman is that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his negligence.
Adam SmithRead
Defense is superior to opulence.
Adam SmithRead
I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.
Adam SmithRead
Similar quotes
What brought mass innovation to a nation was not scientific advances - its own or others' - but 'economic dynamism': the desire and the space to innovate.
Edmund PhelpsRead
We have this culture of financialization. People think they need to make money with their savings rather with their own business. So you end up with dentists who are more traders than dentists. A dentist should drill teeth and use whatever he does in the stock market for entertainment.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
Money is not an invention of the state. It is not the product of a legislative act.
Carl MengerRead
Thus, our national circulating medium is now at the mercy of loan transactions of banks, which lend, not money, but promises to supply money they do not possess
Irving FisherRead
Industry entirely left to itself, would soon fall to ruin, and a nation letting everything alone would commit suicide.
Friedrich ListRead
Inflation is probably the most important single factor in that vicious circle wherein one kind of government action makes more and more government control necessary. For this reason all those who wish to stop the drift toward increasing government control should concentrate their effort on monetary policy.
Friedrich August Von HayekRead