“It is not for its own sake that men desire money, but for the sake of what they can purchase with it.”
Source: (1776), Book IV, Chapter I, p. 471.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Adam Smith175
Scottish moral philosopher and political economist 1723–1790Related quotes
Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French intellectual and literary figure
Source: Erotism: Death and Sensuality
Tom Stoppard (1937) British playwright
Elle est désirée pour la salir. Non pour elle-même, mais pour la joie goûtée dans la certitude de la profaner.
Misattributed
Source: Georges Bataille, Erotism (1962) [City Lights Books, 1991, trans. Mary Dalwood, ISBN 0872861902], part I, ch. XIII, p. 144.
“The reward of joy is joy itself; not for its own sake; but for the sake of others.”
Kuruvilla Pandikattu (1957) Indian philosopher
Joy: Share it! p.134.
Joy: Share it! (2017)
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Bk I, Ch I
The Ethics Of Aristotle (Vol. I)
“If we are disappointed that men give little heed to what we utter is it for their sake or our own?”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) Catholic bishop
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 246
John Selden (1584–1654) English jurist and scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution, and of Jewish law
Of a King.
Table Talk (1689)
“Growth purely for its own sake is the philosophy of cancer.”
Jasper Fforde book Lost in a Good Book
Source: Lost in a Good Book
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist
“The Obscurity of the Poet”, p. 24
Poetry and the Age (1953)
Context: People always ask: For whom does the poet write? He needs only to answer, For whom do you do good? Are you kind to your daughter because in the end someone will pay you for being?... The poet writes his poem for its own sake, for the sake of that order of things in which the poem takes the place that has awaited it.