Amartya Sen, “Values and Justice”, Journal of Economic Methodology, Vol. 19, No. 2, June 2012, 101–108.
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Smith had no illusion that this would be easy to do, nor did he suffer from the delusion that such an exercise would, in any sense, be perfect. But he did have the conviction that the exercise could still be very useful, and the best should not be made into an enemy of the good.

— Amartya Sen

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Smith had no illusion that this would be easy to do, nor did he suffer from the delusion that such an exercise would, in any sense, be perfect. But he did have the conviction that the exercise could still be very useful, and the best should not be made into an enemy of the good." in the context of "Amartya Sen, “Values and Justice”, Journal of Economic Methodology, Vol. 19, No. 2, June 2012, 101–108." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Adam Smith" (Quotes about Adam Smith, M-Z) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Adam Smith

About Adam Smith

Adam Smith (16 June 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish-born economist and philosopher, widely considered the "father of modern economics".