To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers.

Adam Smith · An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, II, IV, 7, pt. 3

It 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. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love.

Adam Smith · An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), vol. I, bk. I, ch. 2

Adam Smith · An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, I, II, 3

Adam Smith

More Business Quotes

Winston Churchill · Blackpool. Balance, 399, 14 October 1950

Peter Drucker · Managing for Business Effectiveness (1963)

Joseph Schumpeter · Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (1942), ch. 3

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