Honour sinks where commerce long prevails. Oliver Goldsmith
Commerce is so far from being beneficial to arts, or to empire, that it is destructive of both, as all their history shows, for the above reason of individual merit being its great hatred. Empires flourish till they become commercial, and then they are scattered abroad to the four winds. William Blake
Commerce is really as interesting as nature. Henry David Thoreau
Commerce is unexpectedly confident and serene, alert, adventurous, and unwearied. It is very natural in its methods withal, far more so than many fantastic enterprises and sentimental experiments, and hence its singular success. Henry David Thoreau
The selfish spirit of commerce, which knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain. Thomas Jefferson
Money, and not morality, is the principle of commerce and commercial nations. Thomas Jefferson