The proposal of any new law or regulation which comes from [businessmen], ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.

The retinue of a grandee in China or Indostan [sic] accordingly is, by all accounts, much more numerous and splendid than that of the richest subjects in Europ…

It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their…

China is a much richer country than any part of Europe.

The broader and more influential organisations of businessmen have acted to undermine the basic foundation of the free market system they purport to represent …

From government I want enough proximity to be defended by it and enough distance to not be harmed by it.

No hard and fast rule can be laid down as to where our legislation shall stop in interfering between man and man, between interest and interest. All that can b…