The difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a philosopher and a common street porter, for example, seems to arise not so much from… - Adam Smith

The sneaking arts of underling tradesmen are thus erected into political maxims for the conduct of a great empire; for it is the most underling tradesmen only who make it a rule to employ chiefly their own customers. A great trader purchases his good always where they are cheapest and best, without regard to any little interest of this kind.

The natural price, therefore, is, as it were, the central price, to which the prices of all commodities are continually gravitating.

But bounty and hospitality very seldom lead to extravagance; though vanity almost always does.