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Adam Smith Quotes about Country

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The rate of profit... is naturally low in rich and high in poor countries, and it is always highest in the countries which are going fastest to ruin.

The rate of profit... is naturally low in rich and high in poor countries, and it is always highest in the countries which are going fastest to ruin.

Adam Smith
Country, Ruins, Rich
1776 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, bk.1, ch.11, conclusion.

As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce.

Adam Smith
Country, Men, Economic Inequality
Adam Smith (1814). “An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. With notes, and an additional vol., by D. Buchanan”, p.80

A merchant, it has been said very properly, is not necessarily the citizen of any particular country.

Adam Smith
Country, Citizens, Economics
Adam Smith (2007). “The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.271, Harriman House Limited

It is not the actual greatness of national wealth, but its continual increase, which occasions a rise in the wages of labour. It is not, accordingly, in the richest countries, but in the most thriving, or in those which are growing rich the fastest, that the wages of labour are highest. England is certainly, in the present times, a much richer country than any part of North America. The wages of labour, however, are much higher in North America than in any part of England.

Adam Smith
Country, Greatness, America
Adam Smith, Laurence Dickey (1993). “Wealth of Nations (Abridged)”, p.35, Hackett Publishing

It is not by augmenting the capital of the country, but by rendering a greater part of that capital active and productive than would otherwise be so, that the most judicious operations of banking can increase the industry of the country.

Adam Smith
Country, Banking, Economy
Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.131

Justice, however, never was in reality administered gratis in any country. Lawyers and attornies, at least, must always be paid by the parties; and, if they were not, they would perform their duty still worse than they actually perform it.

Adam Smith
Country, Party, Reality
Adam Smith (1778). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.326

The proprietor of stock is necessarily a citizen of the world, and is not necessarily attached to any particular country.

Adam Smith
Country, Citizens, World
Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.358

The cheapness of wine seems to be a cause, not of drunkenness, but of sobriety. ...People are seldom guilty of excess in what is their daily fare... On the contrary, in the countries which, either from excessive heat or cold, produce no grapes, and where wine consequently is dear and a rarity, drunkenness is a common vice.

Adam Smith
Country, Wine, People
Adam Smith (2007). “The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: With an introduction by Jonathan B. Wight, University of Richmond”, p.439, Harriman House Limited

When the toll upon carriages of luxury, upon coaches, post-chaises, etc. is made somewhat higher in proportion to their weight, than upon carriages of necessary use, such as carts, wagons, etc. the indolence and vanity of the rich is made to contribute in a very easy manner to the relief of the poor, by rendering cheaper the transportation of heavy goods to all the different parts of the country.

Adam Smith
Country, Luxury, Necessary Use
Adam Smith, John Ramsay McCulloch (1870). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”

China is a much richer country than any part of Europe.

Adam Smith
Country, Europe, China
Adam Smith (1819). “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.262

Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expence of carriage, put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with with those of the neighbourhood of the town. They are upon that the greatest of all improvements.

Adam Smith
Country, Rivers, Levels
Adam Smith (2016). “The Wealth of Nations: the Great Master”, p.173, VM eBooks

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