Quote#Work
Labour was the first price, the original purchase-money that was paid…
Quote byAdam Smith · 1723–1790
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Book I, Chapter V, p. 38..
English (original)
Labour was the first price, the original purchase-money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally purchased; and its value, to those who possess it, and who want to exchange it for some new productions, is precisely equal to the quantity of labour which it can enable them to purchase or command.
— Adam Smith
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