“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.”

—  Adam Smith

Source: (1776), Book IV, Chapter III, Part II, p. 530.

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Scottish moral philosopher and political economist 1723–1790

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