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Every man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniencies, and amusements of human life.
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“Every man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniencies, and amusements of human life.”

Adam Smith

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Source
The Wealth of Nations
Date
1776
Meaning

Meaning of “Every man is rich or poor according to…”

Smith defines economic command in terms of access to goods and services rather than the mere possession of coins, linking wealth with purchasing capacity.

Source context

Where does it come from?

The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter V; Project Gutenberg #3300. The historical spelling “conveniencies” is retained; this is classical political economy, not a modern household-wealth metric.

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BusinessDeepLifeMindMoneyPhilosophyThinking Quotes About Reasoning, Reflection & JudgmentThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite ReflectionMaterialism
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Money is neither a material to work upon, nor a tool to work with.
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“Money is neither a material to work upon, nor a tool to work with.”

Adam Smith · The Wealth of Nations · 1776
Meaning & context

Money facilitates exchange and payment but is distinguished from the materials, tools, and subsistence that directly enable productive work.

Source details

The Wealth of Nations, Book II, Chapter II; Project Gutenberg #3300. Smith is explaining money as part of circulating capital rather than denying its practical usefulness.

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Wages, profit, and rent, are the three original sources of all revenue, as well as of all exchangeable value.
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“Wages, profit, and rent, are the three original sources of all revenue, as well as of all exchangeable value.”

Adam Smith · The Wealth of Nations · 1776
Meaning & context

Smith separates major forms of income according to labour, stock, and land, providing a historical framework for how revenue is distributed.

Source details

The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter VI; Project Gutenberg #3300. The statement is part of Smith’s eighteenth-century theory of price and income distribution.

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The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.
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“The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.”

Adam Smith · The Wealth of Nations · 1776
Meaning & context

Smith distinguishes nominal money price from the labour and sacrifice required to acquire something, making cost broader than the number printed on a transaction.

Source details

The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter V; Project Gutenberg #3300. This belongs to Smith’s labour-command discussion of real and nominal price.

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There is no Wealth but Life.
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“There is no Wealth but Life.”

John Ruskin · Unto This Last and Other Essays on Political Economy · 1862
Meaning & context

Ruskin makes human life and its capacities the final measure of wealth, challenging definitions that treat accumulated money or goods as sufficient evidence of national well-being.

Source details

Unto This Last, fourth essay, first published in Cornhill Magazine in 1860 and collected in book form in 1862; Project Gutenberg #36541. This is Ruskin’s normative political-economy argument, not a modern empirical wealth metric.

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All things, then, seek the good.
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“All things, then, seek the good.”

Boethius · The Consolation of Philosophy · c. 524
Meaning & context

Boethius frames action as movement toward some perceived good, making the nature of genuine goodness central to understanding desire, purpose, and happiness.

Source details

The Consolation of Philosophy, Book III, Chapter XI, H. R. James translation (Elliot Stock, 1897), printed page 149 in Project Gutenberg #14328. Lady Philosophy reaches ‘All things, then, seek the good’ after arguing that things naturally seek continued existence and unity, and that unity and goodness are the same. This remains late-antique metaphysical/philosophical argument mediated by translation, not an empirical description of every human motive or modern behavioral science.

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All men by nature desire to know.
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“All men by nature desire to know.”

Aristotle · Metaphysics · c. 350 BCE
Meaning & context

Aristotle treats the desire for knowledge as a basic human tendency, giving curiosity a foundational place in the movement from perception toward understanding.

Source details

Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book I, Chapter I, W. D. Ross translation (1908), validated Wikisource scan leaf 21. 'All men by nature desire to know' opens the work before the discussion of sensation, memory, experience, art and knowledge. This remains ancient philosophy mediated by translation, not a modern empirical finding about cognition.

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