A Nation of Shopkeepers

"To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but extremely fit for a nation whose government is influenced by shopkeepers."

—Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations


I heard this quotation on the radio  today, and I found it quite fitting that the patriarches of the first two generations of my family in America were -- essentially -- shopkeepers, tailors, and inn keepers!