Q0474

Adam Smith

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely.
Thinker Adam Smith
School Moral Philosophy
Source The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Theme Love
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with The Theory of Moral Sentiments, within the tradition of Moral Philosophy. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of love, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Adam Smith's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Adam Smith. (n.d.). Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0474

MLA: Adam Smith. “Man naturally desires, not only to be loved,….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0474.

Chicago: Adam Smith. “Man naturally desires, not only to be loved,….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0474.

Same thinker

More from Adam Smith

  1. How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others.

All quotations by Adam Smith

Same theme

More on love

  1. Love is the desire for the perpetual possession of the good.
  2. A friend is another self.
  3. If you wish to be loved, love.
  4. Late have I loved you, beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!
  5. Compassion is the basis of morality.

Browse the love theme