“It is not for its own sake that men desire money, but for the sake of what they can purchase with it.”

—  Adam Smith

Source: (1776), Book IV, Chapter I, p. 471.

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 "It is not for its own sake that men desire money, but for the sake of what they can purchase with it." by Adam Smith?
Adam Smith photo
Adam Smith 175
Scottish moral philosopher and political economist 1723–1790

Related quotes

Aristotle photo
Georges Bataille photo

“Beauty is desired in order that it may be befouled; not for its own sake, but for the joy brought by the certainty of profaining it.”

Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French intellectual and literary figure

Source: Erotism: Death and Sensuality

Tom Stoppard photo

“Beauty is desired in order that it may be befouled; not for its own sake, but for the joy brought by the certainty of profaning it.”

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.

Kuruvilla Pandikattu photo

“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 photo
John Lancaster Spalding photo

“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

Miyamoto Musashi photo

“Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.”

Dokkodo

John Selden photo

“A king is a thing men have made for their own sakes, for quietness' sake. Just as in a family one man is appointed to buy the meat.”

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)

“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.”

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.

Related topics