The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Explore 8 quotes from The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely; or to be that thing which is the natural and proper object of love.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Topic

Human needs Character

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Economic literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 3, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin Books, 2009, pt. 3, ch. 2.

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Topic

Mercy Punishment Legal theory Moral theory

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 2, sect 2, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin, 2010, pt. 2, sect 2, ch. 3.

Never complain of that of which it is at all times in your power to rid yourself.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Topic

Locus of control Self-improvement Personal growth

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 7, sect. 2, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin, 2010, pt. 7, sect. 2, ch. 1.

We are delighted to find a person who values us as we value ourselves, and distinguishes us from the rest of mankind, with an attention not unlike that with which we distinguish ourselves.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Topic

Feeling loved

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 2, sect. 3, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin, 2010, pt. 2, sect. 3, ch. 1.

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Topic

Man as social animal Empathy Human nature

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Opening lines

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 1, sect. 1, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin, 2010, pt. 1, sect. 1, ch. 1.

Though our brother is upon the rack, as long as we ourselves are at our ease, our senses will never inform us of what he suffers. They never did, and never can, carry us beyond our own person, and it is by the imagination only that we can form any conception of what are his sensations... His agonies, when they are thus brought home to ourselves, when we have thus adopted and made them our own, begin at last to affect us, and we then tremble and shudder at the thought of what he feels.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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More information about this quote

Topic

Empathy Man as social animal

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 1, sect. 1, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin, 2010, pt. 1, sect. 1, ch. 1.

The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life seems to arise from overrating the difference between one permanent situation and another. Avarice overrates the difference between poverty and riches: ambition, that between a private and a public station: vainglory, that between obscurity and extensive reputation. The person under the influence of any of those extravagant passions is not only miserable in his actual situation, but is often disposed to disturb the peace of society, in order to arrive at that which he so foolishly admires.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Topic

Perception vs. reality Perception

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 3, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin, 2010, pt. 3, ch. 3.

In a nation distracted by faction, there are, no doubt, always a few, though commonly but a very few, who preserve their judgment untainted by the general contagion. They seldom amount to more than here and there a solitary individual, without any influence, excluded by his own candour from the confidence of either party, and who, though he may be one of the wisest, is necessarily upon that very account one of the most insignificant men in the society.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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More information about this quote

Topic

Political faction

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 3, sect. 3, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin, 2010, pt. 3, sect. 3, ch. 3.