It is the aim of good government to stimulate production, of bad government to encourage consumption.
Demand and supply are the opposite extremes of the beam, whence depend the scales of dearness and cheapness; the price is the point of equilibrium, where the momentum of the one ceases, and that of the other begins.
All those who, since Adam Smith, have turned their attention to Political Economy, agree that in reality we do not buy articles of consumption with money, the circulating medium with which we pay for them. We must in the first instance have bought this money itself by the sale of our produce.
Capital in the hands of a national government forms a part of the gross national capital.
Nothing is more dangerous in practice, than an obstinate, unbending adherence to a system, particularly in its application to the wants and errors of mankind.
But, is it possible for princes and ministers to be enlightened, when private individuals are not so?
Taxation being a burthen, must needs weigh lightest on each individual, when it bears upon all alike.
When war becomes a trade, it benefits, like all other trades, from the division of labour.
Supply creates its own demand.
The property a man has in his own industry, is violated, whenever he is forbidden the free exercise of his faculties or talents, except insomuch as they would interfere with the rights of third parties.
The day will come, sooner or later, when people will wonder at the necessity of taking all this trouble to expose the folly of a system, so childish and absurd, and yet so often enforced at the point of a bayonet.
Law has been unjustly charged with the whole blame of the calamities resulting from the scheme that bears his name.
Still how unenlightened and ignorant are the very nations we term civilized!
The wealthy are generally impressed with an idea, that they shall never stand in need of public charitable relief; but a little less confidence would become them better.
Capital must work, as it were, in concert with industry; and this concurrence is what I call the productive agency of capital.
An uniformity of weights and measures, arranged upon mathematical principles, would be a benefit to the whole commercial world, if it were wise enough to adopt such an expedient.
If the community wish to have the benefit of more knowledge and intelligence in the labouring classes, it must dispense it at the public charge.
The best scheme of finance is, to spend as little as possible; and the best tax is always the lightest.
Dominion by land or sea will appear equally destitute of attraction, when it comes to be generally understood, that all its advantages rest with the rulers, and that the subjects at large derive no benefit whatever.
The command of a large sum is a dangerous temptation to a national administration. Though accumulated at their expense, the people rarely, if ever profit by it: yet in point of fact, all value, and consequently, all wealth, originates with the people.