Nobody But A Beggar Chooses

Nobody But A Beggar Chooses To Depend Chiefly Upon The Benevolence Of His Fellow-citizens.

The Subjects Of Every State Ought To Contribute Toward The Support Of The Government, As Nearly As Possible, In Proportion To Their Respective Abilities; That Is, In Proportion To The Revenue Which They Respectively Enjoy Under The Protection Of The State ....as Henry Home (lord Kames) Has Written, A Goal Of Taxation Should Be To 'remedy Inequality Of Riches As Much As Possible, By Relieving The Poor And Burdening The Rich.'

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.

We Are Delighted To Find A Person Who Values Us As We Value Ourselves, And Distinguishes Us From The Rest Of Mankind, With An Attention Not Unlike That With Which We Distinguish Ourselves.

But Though Empires, Like All The Other Works Of Men, Have All Hitherto Proved Mortal, Yet Every Empire Aims At Immortality.