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
Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The accumulation of wealth often leads to social disparities.
Adam Smith's quote suggests that significant wealth tends to create a divide within society, where the rich possess far more than the poor, resulting in inequality. This remark reflects on the economic structures that can perpetuate such imbalances, emphasizing the social implications of property ownership and wealth distribution.
Themes
PropertyInequalityWealthSocietyEconomics
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about wealth distribution during a seminar on economics.
More from Adam Smith
All quotes βIt 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.
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
If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is and who and what is really important - if you want to operate on your default-setting - then you, like me, will not consider possibilities that aren't pointless and annoying.
David Foster WallaceRead
What if we choose not to do the things we are supposed to do? The principal gain is a sense of an authentic act - and an authentic life. It may be a short one, but it is an authentic one, and that's a lot better than those short lives full of boredom. The principal loss is security. Another is respect from the community. But you gain the respect of another community, the one that is worth having the respect of.
Joseph CampbellRead
Listen to your life. Listen to what happens to you because it is through what happens to you that God speaks...It's in language that's not always easy to decipher, but it's there powerfully, memorably, unforgettably.
Frederick BuechnerRead
From the point of view of the meditative traditions the entire society is suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Jon Kabat-ZinnRead
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
ConfuciusRead
I do not agree with this century's fashion of running down the human species as a failed try, a doomed sport. At our worst, we may be going through the early stages of adolescence, and everyone remembers what that is like.
Lewis ThomasRead