Quote #22
Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.
More from Adam Smith
- The man who barely abstains from violating either the person, or the estate, or the reputation of his neighbours, has surely very little po…
- Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us …
- The man of system, on the contrary, is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamoured with the supposed beauty of his ow…
- How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and…
- When national debts have once been accumulated to a certain degree, there is scarce, I believe, a single instance of their having been fair…
- Every man is, no doubt, by nature, first and principally recommended to his own care; and as he is fitter to take care of himself than of a…
- What improves the circumstances of the greater part can never be regarded as an inconvenience to the whole. No society can be flourishing a…
- How many people ruin themselves by laying out money on trinkets of frivolous utility? What pleases these lovers of toys is not so much the …