"In the steadiness of his industry and frugality, in his steadily sacrificing the ease and enjoyment of the present moment for the probable expectation of the still greater ease and enjoyment of a more distant but more lasting period of time, the prudent man is always both supported and rewarded by the entire approbation of the impartial spectator, and of the representative of the impartial spectator, the man within the breast."
— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London and Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed for A. Strahan; and A. Cadell in the Strand; and W. Creech, and J. Bell & Co. at Edinburgh
Date
1790
Metaphor
"In the steadiness of his industry and frugality, in his steadily sacrificing the ease and enjoyment of the present moment for the probable expectation of the still greater ease and enjoyment of a more distant but more lasting period of time, the prudent man is always both supported and rewarded by the entire approbation of the impartial spectator, and of the representative of the impartial spectator, the man within the breast."
Metaphor in Context
In the steadiness of his industry and frugality, in his steadily sacrificing the ease and enjoyment of the present moment for the probable expectation of the still greater ease and enjoyment of a more distant but more lasting period of time, the prudent man is always both supported and rewarded by the entire approbation of the impartial spectator, and of the representative of the impartial spectator, the man within the breast. The impartial spectator does not feel himself worn out by the present labour of those whose conduct he surveys; nor does he feel himself solicited by the importunate calls of their present appetites. To him their present, and what is likely to be their future situation, are very nearly the same: he sees them nearly at the same distance, and is affected by them very nearly in the same manner. He knows, however, that to the persons principally concerned, they are very far from being the same, and that they naturally affect them in a very different manner. He cannot therefore but approve, and even applaud, that proper exertion of self-command, which enables them to act as if their present and their future situation affected them nearly in the same manner in which they affect him.
(text from http://www.econlib.org, VI.i.12; cf. p. 215 in Liberty Fund ed.)
(text from http://www.econlib.org, VI.i.12; cf. p. 215 in Liberty Fund ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
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>
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>
Date of Entry
06/19/2014
