Consumption Is The Sole End And Purpose

The Man Who Barely Abstains From Violating Either The Person, Or The Estate, Or The Reputation Of His Neighbours, Has Surely Very Little Positive Merit. He Fulfils, However, All The Rules Of What Is Peculiarly Called Justice, And Does Every Thing Which His Equals Can With Propriety Force Him To Do, Or Which They Can Punish Him For Not Doing. We May Often Fulfil All The Rules Of Justice By Sitting Still And Doing Nothing.

The Mob, When They Are Gazing At A Dancer On The Slack Rope, Naturally Writhe And Twist And Balance Their Own Bodies, As They See Him Do.

The Natural Effort Of Every Individual To Better His Own Condition Is So Powerful That It Is Alone, And Without Any Assistance, Capable Not Only Of Carrying On The Society To Wealth And Prosperity, But Of Surmounting 100 Impertinent Obstructions With Which The Folly Of Human Laws Too Often Encumbers Its Operations.

To Hinder, Besides, The Farmer From Selling His Goods At All Times To The Best Market, Is Evidently To Sacrifice The Ordinary Laws Of Justice To An Idea Of Public Utility, To A Sort Of Reasons Of State; An Act Of Legislative Authority Which Ought To Be Exercised Only, Which Can Be Pardoned Only In Cases Of The Most Urgent Necessity.

But Though Empires, Like All The Other Works Of Men, Have All Hitherto Proved Mortal, Yet Every Empire Aims At Immortality.