Men Of The Most Robust Make, Observe

It Is The Highest Impertinence And Presumption, Therefore, In Kings And Ministers To Pretend To Watch Over The Economy Of Private People, And To Restrain Their Expense. They Are Themselves, Always, And Without Any Exception, The Greatest Spendthrifts In The Society.

Among Civilized And Thriving Nations, On The Contrary, Though A Great Number Of People Do No Labor At All, Many Of Whom Consume The Produce Of Ten Times, Frequently Of A Hundred Times More Labour Than The Greater Part Of Those Who Work; Yet The Produce Of The Whole Labour Of The Society Is So Great, That All Are Often Abundantly Supplied, And A Workman, Even Of The Lowest And Poorest Order, If He Is Frugal And Industrious, May Enjoy A Greater Share Of The Necessaries And Conveniencies Of Life Than It Is Possible For Any Savage To Acquire.

The Disposition To Admire, And Almost To Worship, The Rich And The Powerful, And To Despise, Or, At Least, To Neglect Persons Of Poor And Mean Condition Is The Great And Most Universal Cause Of The Corruption Of Our Moral Sentiments.

No Society Can Surely Be Flourishing And Happy, Of Which The Far Greater Part Of The Members Are Poor And Miserable. It Is But Equity, Besides, That They Who Feed, Clothe And Lodge The Whole Body Of The People, Should Have Such A Share Of The Produce Of Their Own Labour As To Be Themselves Tolerably Well Fed, Clothed And Lodged.

That This Is The Source Of Our Fellow-feeling For The Misery Of Others, That It Is By Changing Places In Fancy With The Sufferer, That We Come Either To Conceive Or To Be Affected By What He Feels, May Be Demonstrated By Many Obvious Observations, If It Should Not Be Thought Sufficiently Evident Of Itself. When We See A Stroke Aimed And Just Ready To Fall Upon The Leg Or Arm Of Another Person, We Naturally Shrink And Draw Back Our Own Leg Or Our Own Arm; And When It Does Fall, We Feel It In Some Measure, And Are Hurt By It As Well As The Sufferer.