Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo

The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...

yet still when he turned his view to what passed within his own breast, he was secretly conscious to himself of the absurd|ity and meanness of all his motives, and inwardly blushed and trembled at the thoughts of the contempt which he knew he deserved, and which mankind would certainly bestow upon him if they saw his conduct in the light in which in his own heart he was obliged to regard it. To a wise man, on the contrary, to one whose passions were all brought under perfect subjection to the ruling principles of his nature, to reason and the love of propri|ety, to act so as to deserve approbation was equally easy upon all occasions. Was he in prosperity, he returned thanks to Ju|piter for having joined him with circum|stances which were easily mastered, and in which there was little temptation to do wrong. Was he in adversity, he equally returned thanks to the director of this spectacle of human life, for having oppo|sed to him a vigorous athlete, over whom, tho' the contest was likely to be more vio|lent, the victory was more glorious, and equally certain. Can there be any shame in that distress which is brought upon us
/ 545
Pages

Actions

file_download Download Options Download this page Image - Page 132 Plain Text - Page 132

About this Item

Title
The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...
Author
Smith, Adam, 1723-1790.
Canvas
Page 132
Publication
London :: printed for A. Millar; and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, in Edinburgh,
1759.

Technical Details

Link to this Item
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001
Link to this scan
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001/145

Rights and Permissions

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Eighteenth Century Collections Online Text Creation Partnership. Searching, reading, printing, or downloading ECCO-TCP texts is reserved for the authorized users of these project partner institutions. Permission must be granted for subsequent distribution, in print or electronically, of this text, in whole or in part. Please contact project staff at eccotcp-info.edu for further information or permissions.

Related Links

Manifest
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/api/manifest/eccodemo:k111361.0001.001

Cite this Item

Full citation
"The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ..." In the digital collection Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2025.
Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.