# An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Adam Smith]] - Full Title:: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations - Category: #books ## Highlights > This great increase in the quantity of work, which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances; first, to the increase of dexterity in every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of the time which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another; and, lastly, to the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many. ([Location 138](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=138)) > Men are much more likely to discover easier and readier methods of attaining any object, when the whole attention of their minds is directed towards that single object, than when it is dissipated among a great variety of things. ([Location 165](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=165)) > Each individual becomes more expert in his own peculiar branch, more work is done upon the whole, and the quantity of science is considerably increased by it. ([Location 185](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=185)) > of. 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, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens. ([Location 238](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=238)) > They would probably be so everywhere, if corporation laws and the corporation spirit did not prevent it. ([Location 1997](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=1997)) > The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects, too, are perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding, or to exercise his invention, in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. The torpor of his mind renders him not only incapable of relishing or bearing a part in any rational conversation, but of conceiving any generous, noble, or tender sentiment, and consequently of forming any just judgment concerning many even of the ordinary duties of private life. Of the great and extensive interests of his country he is altogether incapable of judging; and unless very particular pains have been taken to render him otherwise, he is equally incapable of defending his country in war. The uniformity of his stationary life naturally corrupts the courage of his mind, and makes him regard, with abhorrence, the irregular, uncertain, and adventurous life of a soldier. It corrupts even the activity of his body, and renders him incapable of exerting his strength with vigour and perseverance in any other employment, than that to which he has been bred. His dexterity at his own particular trade seems, in this manner, to be acquired at the expense of his intellectual, social, and martial virtues. But in every improved and civilized society, this is the state into which the labouring poor, that is, the great body of the people, must necessarily fall, unless government takes some pains to prevent it. ([Location 12072](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=12072)) > In such societies, the varied occupations of every man oblige every man to exert his capacity, and to invent expedients for removing difficulties which are continually occurring. Invention is kept alive, and the mind is not suffered to fall into that drowsy stupidity, which, in a civilized society, seems to benumb the understanding of almost all the inferior ranks of people. ([Location 12085](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=12085)) > In those barbarous societies, as they are called, every man, it has already been observed, is a warrior. Every man, too, is in some measure a statesman, and can form a tolerable judgment concerning the interest of the society, and the conduct of those who govern it. ([Location 12088](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=12088)) > In Scotland, the establishment of such parish schools has taught almost the whole common people to read, and a very great proportion of them to write and account. In England, the establishment of charity schools has had an effect of the same kind, though not so universally, because the establishment is not so universal. ([Location 12125](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=12125)) > The more they are instructed, the less liable they are to the delusions of enthusiasm and superstition, which, among ignorant nations frequently occasion the most dreadful disorders. An instructed and intelligent people, besides, are always more decent and orderly than an ignorant and stupid one. They feel themselves, each individually, more respectable, and more likely to obtain the respect of their lawful superiors, and they are, therefore, more disposed to respect those superiors. ([Location 12172](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=12172)) # An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Adam Smith]] - Full Title:: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations - Category: #books ## Highlights > This great increase in the quantity of work, which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances; first, to the increase of dexterity in every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of the time which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another; and, lastly, to the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many. ([Location 138](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=138)) > Men are much more likely to discover easier and readier methods of attaining any object, when the whole attention of their minds is directed towards that single object, than when it is dissipated among a great variety of things. ([Location 165](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=165)) > Each individual becomes more expert in his own peculiar branch, more work is done upon the whole, and the quantity of science is considerably increased by it. ([Location 185](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=185)) > of. 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, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens. ([Location 238](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=238)) > They would probably be so everywhere, if corporation laws and the corporation spirit did not prevent it. ([Location 1997](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=1997)) > The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects, too, are perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding, or to exercise his invention, in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. The torpor of his mind renders him not only incapable of relishing or bearing a part in any rational conversation, but of conceiving any generous, noble, or tender sentiment, and consequently of forming any just judgment concerning many even of the ordinary duties of private life. Of the great and extensive interests of his country he is altogether incapable of judging; and unless very particular pains have been taken to render him otherwise, he is equally incapable of defending his country in war. The uniformity of his stationary life naturally corrupts the courage of his mind, and makes him regard, with abhorrence, the irregular, uncertain, and adventurous life of a soldier. It corrupts even the activity of his body, and renders him incapable of exerting his strength with vigour and perseverance in any other employment, than that to which he has been bred. His dexterity at his own particular trade seems, in this manner, to be acquired at the expense of his intellectual, social, and martial virtues. But in every improved and civilized society, this is the state into which the labouring poor, that is, the great body of the people, must necessarily fall, unless government takes some pains to prevent it. ([Location 12072](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=12072)) > In such societies, the varied occupations of every man oblige every man to exert his capacity, and to invent expedients for removing difficulties which are continually occurring. Invention is kept alive, and the mind is not suffered to fall into that drowsy stupidity, which, in a civilized society, seems to benumb the understanding of almost all the inferior ranks of people. ([Location 12085](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=12085)) > In those barbarous societies, as they are called, every man, it has already been observed, is a warrior. Every man, too, is in some measure a statesman, and can form a tolerable judgment concerning the interest of the society, and the conduct of those who govern it. ([Location 12088](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=12088)) > In Scotland, the establishment of such parish schools has taught almost the whole common people to read, and a very great proportion of them to write and account. In England, the establishment of charity schools has had an effect of the same kind, though not so universally, because the establishment is not so universal. ([Location 12125](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=12125)) > The more they are instructed, the less liable they are to the delusions of enthusiasm and superstition, which, among ignorant nations frequently occasion the most dreadful disorders. An instructed and intelligent people, besides, are always more decent and orderly than an ignorant and stupid one. They feel themselves, each individually, more respectable, and more likely to obtain the respect of their lawful superiors, and they are, therefore, more disposed to respect those superiors. ([Location 12172](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00847CE6O&location=12172))