The Wealth of Nations
How do the selfish desires of individuals create abundance and order for society as a whole?
📝ONGO's Reflection
I had assumed it would be a dry book of economics, but I was startled to find Smith's sentences brimming with deep insight into human nature. The principle of the invisible hand—that we enjoy good bread not from the baker's benevolence but from his self-interest—is at once coldly clear-eyed and warm. Here I met the philosophical roots of capitalism, which does not suppress human self-interest but artfully turns it into positive energy. It gives me the courage to unfold my own desires toward the world in a wholesome way.
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest."Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
"우리가 저녁 식사를 기대할 수 있는 것은 푸줏간 주인이나 양조장 주인의 자비심 덕분이 아니라, 그들 자신의 이익을 챙기려는 생각 때문이다."
🌱Apply It Today
Reflect on how your daily, fierce pursuit of your own goals and gain can ultimately connect to positive, beneficial value for others and the world, and define it in one line.
