يسعى كل فرد باستمرار إلى إيجاد أنفع وجه لاستثمار ما يملكه من رأس مال. وهو يقصد بذلك منفعته الخاصة لا منفعة المجتمع. لكن السعي وراء منفعته الخاصة يقوده بطبيعة الحال، بل بالضرورة، إلى اختيار الوجه الأنفع للمجتمع... إنه لا يقصد إلا ربحه الخاص، وهو في هذا، كما في كثير من الأمور، يُقاد بيد خفية تُعزّز غايةً لم تكن من قصده.

“Every individual is continually exerting himself to find out the most advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command. It is his own advantage, indeed, and not that of the society which he has in view. But the study of his own advantage naturally, or rather necessarily, leads him to prefer that employment which is most advantageous to society... He intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was not part of his intention”Adam Smith — The Wealth of Nations (illustrated) (2017)