Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo

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

industry he labours night and day to ac|quire talents superior to all his competitors. He endeavours next to bring those talents into public view, and with equal assiduity so|licits every opportunity of employment. For this purpose he makes his court to all man|kind; he serves those whom he hates, and is obsequious to those whom he despises. Through the whole of his life he pursues the idea of a certain artificial and elegant repose which he may never arrive at, for which he sacrifices a real tranquillity that is at all times in his power, and which, if in the extremity of old age he should at last attain to it, he will find to be in no respect preferable to that humble security and contentment which he had abandoned for it. It is then, in the last dregs of life, his body wasted with toil and diseases, his mind gauled and ruffled by the memory of a thousand injuries and disap|pointments which he imagines he has met with from the injustice of his enemies, or from the perfidy and ingratitude of his friends, that he begins at last to find that wealth and greatness are mere trinkets of frivolous utility, no more adapted for pro|curing ease of body or tranquillity of mind than the tweezer-cases of the lover of toys;
/ 545
Pages

Actions

file_download Download Options Download this page Image - Page 343 Plain Text - Page 343

About this Item

Title
The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...
Author
Smith, Adam, 1723-1790.
Canvas
Page 343
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/k111361.0001.001/336

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.