The Great Secret Of Education

The Man Of System, On The Contrary, Is Apt To Be Very Wise In His Own Conceit; And Is Often So Enamoured With The Supposed Beauty Of His Own Ideal Plan Of Government, That He Cannot Suffer The Smallest Deviation From Any Part Of It... He Seems To Imagine That He Can Arrange The Different Members Of A Great Society With As Much Ease As The Hand Arranges The Different Pieces Upon A Chess-board. He Does Not Consider That...in The Great Chess-board Of Human Society, Every Single Piece Has A Principle Of Motion Of Its Own, Altogether Different From That Which The Legislature Might Choose To Impress Upon It.

The Annual Labour Of Every Nation Is The Fund Which Originally Supplies It With All The Necessaries And Conveniencies Of Life Which It Annually Consumes, And Which Consist Always Either In The Immediate Produce Of That Labour, Or In What Is Purchased With That Produce From Other Nations.

The Man Whose Whole Life Is Spent In Performing A Few Simple Operations, Of Which The Effects Are Perhaps Always The Same, Or Very Nearly The Same, Has No Occasion To Exert His Understanding Or To Exercise His Invention In Finding Out Expedients For Removing Difficulties Which Never Occur. He Naturally Loses, Therefore, The Habit Of Such Exertion, And Generally Becomes As Stupid And Ignorant As It Is Possible For A Human Creature To Become.

A Monopoly Granted Either To An Individual Or To A Trading Company Has The Same Effect As A Secret In Trade Or Manufactures. The Monopolists, By Keeping The Market Constantly Understocked, By Never Fully Supplying The Effectual Demand, Sell Their Commodities Much Above The Natural Price, And Raise Their Emoluments, Whether They Consist In Wages Or Profit, Greatly Above Their Natural Rate.

In Ease Of Body, Peace Of Mind, All The Different Ranks Of Life Are Nearly Upon A Level And The Beggar Who Suns Himself By The Side Of The Highway, Possesses That Security Which Kings Are Fighting For.