Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Part IV, Chapter I, Paragraph 10.
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[The rich] consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity...they divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species.

— Adam Smith on Invisible hand

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "[The rich] consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity...they divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species." in the context of "Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Part IV, Chapter I, Paragraph 10." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Invisible hand" (Quotes: Quotes are arranged alphabetically by author, S - 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".