“When the profits of trade happen to be greater than ordinary, over-trading becomes a general error both among great and small dealers.”

—  Adam Smith

Source: (1776), Book IV, Chapter I, p. 469.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "When the profits of trade happen to be greater than ordinary, over-trading becomes a general error both among great and…" by Adam Smith?
Adam Smith photo
Adam Smith 175
Scottish moral philosopher and political economist 1723–1790

Related quotes

Adam Smith photo
Adam Smith photo
Adam Smith photo
Jean-Baptiste Say photo

“When war becomes a trade, it benefits, like all other trades, from the division of labour.”

Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) French economist and businessman

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book III, On Consumption, Chapter VI, Section II, p. 429

Kevin Kelly photo

“The tricks of the intangible trade will become the tricks of your trade.”

Kevin Kelly (1952) American author and editor

Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World (1995), New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected World (1999)

Adam Smith photo

“The small become the great, the great the small;
The right thing happens to the happy man.”

"The Right Thing," ll. 7-9
The Far Field (1964)
Context: God bless the roots! — Body and soul are one!
The small become the great, the great the small;
The right thing happens to the happy man.

“A space of frequency of trade relations among nations.”

James Grier Miller (1916–2002) biologist

Living Systems: Basic Concepts (1969)

Harold Innis photo
Didier Sornette photo

“Indeed, the financial world is such that any insight is almost immediately used to trade for a profit.”

Didier Sornette (1957) French scientist

Source: Why Stock Markets Crash - Critical Events in Complex Systems (2003), Chapter 5, Modeling Financial Bubbles And Market Crashes, p. 136.

Related topics