“The government of an exclusive company of merchants is, perhaps, the worst of all governments for any country whatever.”

—  Adam Smith

Source: (1776), Book IV, Chapter VII, Part Second, p. 619.

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 "The government of an exclusive company of merchants is, perhaps, the worst of all governments for any country whatever." by Adam Smith?
Adam Smith photo
Adam Smith 175
Scottish moral philosopher and political economist 1723–1790

Related quotes

Stanley Baldwin photo
Winston S. Churchill photo

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech in the House of Commons (11 November 1947), published in 206–07 The Official Report, House of Commons (5th Series), 11 November 1947, vol. 444, cc. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1947/nov/11/parliament-bill#column_206
Post-war years (1945–1955)
Variant: Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others that have been tried.
Context: Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Sir Francis Buller, 1st Baronet photo
Stanley Baldwin photo

“Whatever failures may have come to parliamentary government in countries which have not those traditions, and where it is not a natural growth, that is no proof that parliamentary government has failed.”

Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech to the Empire Parliamentary Association's Conference in Westminster Hall (4 July 1935); published in This Torch of Freedom: Speeches and Addresses (1935), p. 5
1935
Context: It is often said to-day by detractors of democracy, at home and particularly abroad, that the parliamentary system has failed. After all, this is the only country... where parliamentary government has grown up, the only country in which it is traditional and hereditary, where it is flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. Whatever failures may have come to parliamentary government in countries which have not those traditions, and where it is not a natural growth, that is no proof that parliamentary government has failed.

George William Curtis photo
Jawaharlal Nehru photo
Harry Truman photo

“There isn’t any difference between the totalitarian Russian Government and the Hitler government and the Franco government in Spain. They are all alike. They are police state governments.”

Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)

Source: News Conference at Key West, March 30, 1950

Gustave de Molinari photo

“No government should have the right to prevent another government from going into competition with it, or to require consumers of security to come exclusively to it for this commodity.”

Gustave de Molinari (1819–1912) Belgian political economist and classical liberal theorist

Source: The Production of Security (1849), p. 23.

N. R. Narayana Murthy photo
José Martí photo

“The spirit of a government must be that of the country. The form of a government must come from the makeup of the country.”

José Martí (1853–1895) Poet, writer, Cuban nationalist leader

Our America (1891)
Context: The spirit of a government must be that of the country. The form of a government must come from the makeup of the country. Government is nothing but the balance of the natural elements of a country.

Related topics