“There is a great deal of ruin in a nation.”

“The annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniencies of life which it annually consumes, and which consist always either in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations.”

“A nation is not made welthy by the childish accumulation of shiny metals, but it enriched by the economic prosperity of it's people.”

“According, therefore, as this produce, or what is purchased with it, bears a greater or smaller proportion to the number of those who are to consume it, the nation will be better or worse supplied with all the necessaries and conveniencies for which it has occasion.”

“Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.”

“What is prudence in the conduct of every private family can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom.”

“Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often both driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions.”