Letter to Henry Dundas (1 November 1779), quoted in Adam Smith, The Correspondence of Adam Smith, eds. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross (1987), p. 241
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I perfectly agree with your Lordship too, that to crush the Industry of so great and so fine a province of the empire, in order to favour the monopoly of some particular towns in Scotland or England, is equally unjust and impolitic. The general opulence and improvement of Ireland might certainly, under proper management, afford much greater resources to the Government, than can ever be drawn from a few mercantile or manufacturing towns.

— Adam Smith

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I perfectly agree with your Lordship too, that to crush the Industry of so great and so fine a province of the empire, in order to favour the monopoly of some particular towns in Scotland or England, is equally unjust and impolitic. The general opulence and improvement of Ireland might certainly, under proper management, afford much greater resources to the Government, than can ever be drawn from a few mercantile or manufacturing towns." in the context of "Letter to Henry Dundas (1 November 1779), quoted in Adam Smith, The Correspondence of Adam Smith, eds. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross (1987), p. 241" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Adam Smith" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Adam Smith

About Adam Smith

Adam Smith (16 June 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish-born economist and philosopher, widely considered the "father of modern economics".