For everybody is eager to acquire such things and to obtain property, provided that he will enjoy it when it has been acquired. It ths comes about that, in competition one with the other, men look both to their own advantage and to that of the public; so that it both respects wonderful progress is made. The contrary of this happens in countries which live in servitude; and the harder the servitude the more does the well-being which they are accustomed, dwindle.
Adam Smith? David Hume? Nope, Niccolò Machiavelli. From The Discourses, II.2, translation by Leslie J. Walker, S.J. Like so many ideas, the invisible hand has been understood by more than we moderns.
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