Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior.

Smith’s aphorism treats a person’s “name” not as a neutral tag but as a social verdict accumulated over time. The metaphor of a bottle suggests that one’s past actions distill into an “essence” others believe they can recognize at a glance; the label (the name) then becomes shorthand for reputation. It implies that identity, in public life, is largely retrospective and behavioral: what we have done hardens into what we are called. The line also hints at the unfairness and fixity of reputational labeling—once printed, a label can outlast change, reducing a complex life to a single, marketable summary.