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A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.
- Treason
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But...
- Virtue
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pierre-Joseph Thoulier Olivet,...
- Education
What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than...
- Politics
Discover Marcus Tullius Cicero quotes about politics. Share...
- History
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But...
- War
There is nothing good in war. Except its ending. Abraham...
- Friendship
A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a...
- Children
Good Life. Kids. Life Is Good. Compassion. I Love My...
- Treason
- Overview
- Early life
- Glasgow
Adam Smith was the son by the second marriage of Adam Smith, the comptroller of customs at Kirkcaldy, Scotland, a small (population 1,500) but thriving fishing village near Edinburgh, and Margaret Douglas, daughter of a substantial landowner. Smith’s father died five months before his birth, so he was brought up by his mother.
Where was Adam Smith educated?
Adam Smith received his elementary education at a two-room “burgh” school in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, before entering Glasgow College at age 14 in 1737. Graduating in 1740, Smith won a scholarship (the Snell Exhibition) to study at Balliol College, Oxford, which he attended for six years.
What was Adam Smith’s first job?
Returning to his home in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in 1746 after six years of study at Oxford, Adam Smith cast about for suitable employment and through family connections received an opportunity to present a course of public lectures in Edinburgh on rhetoric and belles lettres.
What is Adam Smith best known for?
Much more is known about Adam Smith’s thought than about his life. He was the son by second marriage of Adam Smith, comptroller of customs at Kirkcaldy, a small (population 1,500) but thriving fishing village near Edinburgh, and Margaret Douglas, daughter of a substantial landowner. Of Smith’s childhood nothing is known other than that he received his elementary schooling in Kirkcaldy and that at the age of four years he was said to have been carried off by gypsies. Pursuit was mounted, and young Adam was abandoned by his captors. “He would have made, I fear, a poor gipsy,” commented the Scottish journalist John Rae (1845–1915), Smith’s principal biographer.
At the age of 14, in 1737, Smith entered the University of Glasgow, already remarkable as a centre of what was to become known as the Scottish Enlightenment. There he was deeply influenced by Francis Hutcheson, a famous professor of moral philosophy from whose economic and philosophical views he was later to diverge but whose magnetic character seems to have been a main shaping force in Smith’s development. Graduating in 1740, Smith won a scholarship (the Snell Exhibition) and traveled on horseback to Oxford, where he stayed at Balliol College. Compared with the stimulating atmosphere of Glasgow, Oxford was an educational desert. His years there were spent largely in self-education, from which Smith obtained a firm grasp of both classical and contemporary philosophy.
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Philosophy 101
Smith then entered upon a period of extraordinary creativity, combined with a social and intellectual life that he afterward described as “by far the happiest, and most honourable period of my life.” During the week he lectured daily from 7:30 to 8:30 am and again thrice weekly from 11 am to noon, to classes of up to 90 students, aged 14 to 16. (Although his lectures were presented in English rather than in Latin, following the precedent of Hutcheson, the level of sophistication for so young an audience strikes one today as extraordinarily demanding.) Afternoons were occupied with university affairs in which Smith played an active role, being elected dean of faculty in 1758; his evenings were spent in the stimulating company of Glasgow society.
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Among his wide circle of acquaintances were not only members of the aristocracy, many connected with the government, but also a range of intellectual and scientific figures that included Joseph Black, a pioneer in the field of chemistry; James Watt, later of steam-engine fame; Robert Foulis, a distinguished printer and publisher and subsequent founder of the first British Academy of Design; and, not least, the philosopher David Hume, a lifelong friend whom Smith had met in Edinburgh. Smith was also introduced during these years to the company of the great merchants who were carrying on the colonial trade that had opened to Scotland following its union with England in 1707. One of them, Andrew Cochrane, had been a provost of Glasgow and had founded the famous Political Economy Club. From Cochrane and his fellow merchants Smith undoubtedly acquired the detailed information concerning trade and business that was to give such a sense of the real world to The Wealth of Nations.
- Nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right. William E. Gladstone. Inspirational, Peace, Politics.
- We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace. William E. Gladstone.
- Show me the manner in which a nation or a community cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender sympathies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land and their loyalty to high ideals.
- Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear. William E. Gladstone. Trust, Fear, People.
Adam Smith - Economics, Capitalism, Philosophy: Despite its renown as the first great work in political economy, The Wealth of Nations is in fact a continuation of the philosophical theme begun in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. The ultimate problem to which Smith addresses himself is how the inner struggle between the passions and the “impartial spectator”—explicated in Moral Sentiments ...
Signature. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (ISO: Mōhanadāsa Karamacaṁda Gāṁdhī; [ c ] 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule.
Nationalism identifies the nation as the central form of community and elevates it to the object of supreme loyalty. This fundamental concern for the nation and its flourishing can be fragmented into narrower aims or objectives: national autonomy, national identity, and national unity.
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more) “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”. ― Mahatma Gandhi. tags: animals, ethics, gandhi, morals. Read more quotes from Mahatma Gandhi.
