Out of ferocity, avarice, and ambition, the three vices which lead all mankind astray, society makes national defense, commerce, and politics, and thereby causes the strength, the wealth, and the wisdom of the republics; out of these three great vices which would certainly destroy man on earth, society thus causes the civil happiness to emerge.

Giambattista Vico (1725). Geciteerd in Albert Hirschman (1977). The Passions and the Interests. Political Arguments for Capitalism before its Triumph, p 17

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