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Quotation of the Day…

… is the closing of David Hume’s essay, first published in 1759 or 1760, “Of the Jealousy of Trade” (here from page 331 of the 1985 Liberty Fund collection of some of Hume’s essays, edited by the late Eugene F. Miller, Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary) (original emphasis):

Unknown-2I shall therefore venture to acknowledge, that, not only as a man, but as a BRITISH subject, I pray for the flourishing commerce of GERMANY, SPAIN, ITALY, and even FRANCE itself.  I am at least certain, that GREAT BRITAIN, and all those nations, would flourish more, did their sovereigns and ministers adopt such enlarged and benevolent sentiments towards each other.

DBx: Indeed.

Among the most ironic misfortunes fueled by the many fallacies of economic nationalism is the weakening of the domestic economy that inevitably results from economic-nationalists’ attempt to strengthen that economy by obstructing commerce with foreigners.

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