John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
10446 Appendix John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 10446 |
| AUTHOR: | Appendix |
| QUOTATION: | Nation of shopkeepers. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | From an oration purporting to have been delivered by Samuel Adams at the State House in Philadelphia, Aug. 1, 1776. (Philadelphia, printed; London, reprinted for E. Johnson, No. 4 Ludgate Hill, 1776.) W. V. Wells, in his Life of Adams, says: “No such American edition has ever been seen, but at least four copies are known of the London issue. A German translation of this oration was printed in 1778, perhaps at Berne; the place of publication is not given.” To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers.—Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations, vol. ii. book iv. chap. vii. part 3. (1775.) And what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping nation.—Tucker (Dean of Gloucester): Tract. (1766.) Let Pitt then boast of his victory to his nation of shopkeepers.—Bertrand Barère. (June 11, 1794.) |