كان العمل أول ثمن، والشراءُ الأول، المالُ الذي دُفع مقابل كل شيء. لم يكن بالذهب ولا بالفضة، بل بالعمل، تُشترى في الأصل كلُّ ثروات العالم.

“Labour was the first price, the original purchase - money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all wealth of the world was originally purchased.”Adam Smith — An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1827)