Smith, Adam (1723-1790)

The Theory of Moral Sentiments [6th ed.]

London and Edinburgh

Printed for A. Strahan; and A. Cadell in the Strand; and W. Creech, and J. Bell & Co. at Edinburgh

1790

"With the eyes of this great inmate he has always been accustomed to regard whatever relates to himself."

The man of real constancy and firmness, the wise and just man who has been thoroughly bred in the great school of self-command, in the bustle and business of the world, exposed, perhaps, to the violence and injustice of faction, and to the hardships and hazards of war, maintains this control of his passive feelings upon all occasions; and whether in solitude or in society, wears nearly the same countenance, and is affected very nearly in the same manner. In success and in disappointment, in prosperity and in adversity, before friends and before enemies, he has often been under the necessity of supporting this manhood. He has never dared to forget for one moment the judgment which the impartial spectator would pass upon his sentiments and conduct. He has never dared to suffer the man within the breast to be absent one moment from his attention. With the eyes of this great inmate he has always been accustomed to regard whatever relates to himself. This habit has become perfectly familiar to him. He has been in the constant practice, and, indeed, under the constant necessity, of modelling, or of endeavouring to model, not only his outward conduct and behaviour, but, as much as he can, even his inward sentiments and feelings, according to those of this awful and respectable judge. He does not merely affect the sentiments of the impartial spectator. He really adopts them. He almost identifies himself with, he almost becomes himself that impartial spectator, and scarce even feels but as that great arbiter of his conduct directs him to feel.
(text from from econlib.org, III.i.67; cf. pp. 146-7 in Liberty Fund ed.)

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At least 4 entries in the ESTC (1790, 1792, 1793, 1797).

Text checked against The Theory of Moral Sentiments; or, an Essay Towards an Analysis of the Principles by Which Men Naturally Judge Concerning the Conduct and Character, First of Their Neighbours, and Afterwards of Themselves. To Which Is Added, A Dissertation on the Origin of Languages. by Adam Smith, LL. D. Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh; One of the Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs in Scotland; and Formerly Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow. The Sixth Edition, With Considerable Additions and Corrections. In two volumes. (London: Printed for A. Strahan; and A. Cadell in the Strand; and W. Creech, and J. Bell & Co. at Edinburgh, 1790). <Link to ESTC>

06/19/2014