"Adam Smith, had treated forestalling as an imaginary evil! Adam Smith, whom I knew well, was a man of investigation, knowledge, and sagacity; with a heart overflowing with benevolence and sociability; but he was strong tinctured with French Philosophy and systime! To mention two circumstances, in which I cannot be mistaken, because spoken to myself, and although contradictory to the sentiments that I had expressed, not spoken in publick, where men often sport opinions for argument, but in the familiarity of individual conversation, where the unreserved sentiments are spoke. These were "That the Christian Religion debased the human mind;" and that "Sodomy was a thing in itself indifferent." The considerate part of mankind will think that the opinions of such a man, or of any man, are not to be admitted as infallible dogmas; but to be fairly weighed, before they are adopted."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Classical economistsAcademics from ScotlandPhilosophers from ScotlandEconomists from ScotlandSociologists from Scotland
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Alexander Dalrymple, Thoughts of an Old Man, of Independent Mind, Though Dependent Fortune, on the Present High Price of Corn (1800), p. 4
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adam_Smith
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Adam Smith
1723 – 1790
schottischer Moralphilosoph und Ökonom
234 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Adam Smith →
Related Quotes
"Society and conversation, therefore, are the most powerful remedies for restoring the mind to its tranquillity, if, a…"
"As to love our neighbour as we love ourselves is the great law of Christianity, so it is the great precept of nature …"
"I perfectly agree with your Lordship too, that to crush the Industry of so great and so fine a province of the empire…"
"Every faculty in one man is the measure by which he judges of the like faculty in another. I judge of your sight by m…"
"How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the …"
"But bounty and hospitality very seldom lead to extravagance; though vanity almost always does."
"To desire you to read my book over and mark all the corrections you would wish me to make...would oblige me greatly: …"
"The Union was a measure from which infinite Good has been derived to this country."
"Poor David Hume is dying very fast, but with great cheerfulness and good humour and with more real resignation to the…"
"Hatred and anger are the greatest poison to the happiness of a good mind."