Political Quotes

On the record
It is the vital spirit of trade itself; nor can it be reconciled to the nature of man or to the primary laws of human society that any traffic should long be willingly pursued of which all the advantages are on one side and all the burdens on the other.
Said by
John Quincy Adams
Democratic Republican · Massachusetts

Editor's note · Context

Adams argues that trade must be mutually beneficial, as one-sided advantages are unsustainable.

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