a regard to his own interest, therefore, the making of bows and arrows grows
to be his chief business, and he becomes a sort of armourer. Another excels
in making the frames and covers of their little huts or moveable houses. He
is accustomed to be of use in this way to his neighbours, who reward him in
the same manner with cattle and with venison, till at last he finds it his
interest to dedicate himself entirely to this employment, and to become a
sort of house-carpenter. In the same manner a third becomes a smith or a
brazier; a fourth, a tanner or dresser of hides or skins, the principal part
of the clothing of savages. And thus the certainty of being able to exchange
all that surplus part of the produce of his own labour, which is over and
above his own consumption, for such parts of the produce of other men's
labour as he may have occasion for, encourages every man to apply himself to
a particular occupation, and to cultivate and bring to perfection whatever
talent of genius he may possess for that particular species of business.

The difference of natural talents in different men, is, in reality, much less
than we are aware of ; and the very different genius which appears to
distinguish men of different professions, when grown up to maturity, is not
upon many occasions so much the cause, as the effect of the division of
labour. The difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a
philosopher and a common street porter, for example, seems to arise not so
much from nature, as from habit, custom, and education. When they came in to
the world, and for the first six or eight years of their existence, they
were, perhaps, very much alike, and neither their parents nor play-fellows
could perceive any remarkable difference. About that age, or soon after,
they come to be employed in very different occupations. The difference of
talents comes then to be taken notice of, and widens by degrees, till at
last the vanity of the philosopher is willing to acknowledge scarce any
resemblance. But without the disposition to truck, barter, and exchange,
every man must have procured to himself every necessary and conveniency of