“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.
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Adam Smith 175
Scottish moral philosopher and political economist 1723–1790Related quotes

Source: Erotism: Death and Sensuality

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.”
Joy: Share it! p.134.
Joy: Share it! (2017)

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?”
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 246

Of a King.
Table Talk (1689)
“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.