"The invisible hand"
Dublin Core
Title
"The invisible hand"
Creator
Bernard Mandeville
Source
The Fable of the Bees
Date
1714
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
"Thus every part was full of vice,
Yet the whole mass a paradise;
Flatter’d in peace, and fear’d in wars
They were th’ esteem of foreigners,
And lavish of their wealth and lives,
The balance of all other hives.
Such were the blessings of that state;
Their crimes conspir’d to make them great:
And virtue, who from politics
Has learn’d a thousand cunning tricks,
Was, by their happy influence,
Made friends with vice: And ever since,
The worst of all the multitude
Did something for the common good."
Yet the whole mass a paradise;
Flatter’d in peace, and fear’d in wars
They were th’ esteem of foreigners,
And lavish of their wealth and lives,
The balance of all other hives.
Such were the blessings of that state;
Their crimes conspir’d to make them great:
And virtue, who from politics
Has learn’d a thousand cunning tricks,
Was, by their happy influence,
Made friends with vice: And ever since,
The worst of all the multitude
Did something for the common good."
Collection
Citation
Bernard Mandeville, “"The invisible hand",” History of Economics, accessed April 17, 2026, https://www.historysandd.margobergman.org/items/show/41.