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.

A person who can acquire no property, can have no other interest but to eat as much, and to labour as little as possible. Whatever work he does beyond what is sufficient to purchase his own maintenance can be squeezed out of him by violence only, and not by any interest of his own.

No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.

I believe we should adjourn this meeting to another place.

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

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

Every man lives by exchanging.

What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?

Consumption is the sole end and purpose of production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.

There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.