To suppose as we all suppose, that we could be rich and not behave as the rich behave, is like supposing that we could drink all day and stay sober.

Smith’s aphorism satirizes the common fantasy that wealth can be acquired without also acquiring the habits, tastes, and moral compromises associated with the wealthy. By comparing this hope to drinking all day while expecting sobriety, he frames “rich behavior” not as a mere choice but as a predictable consequence of conditions: money reshapes one’s social environment, incentives, and self-justifications. The line also targets a subtler self-deception—believing one can enjoy the privileges of a class without being implicated in its vices. Its sting lies in treating class conduct as a kind of intoxication: prolonged exposure to luxury and power dulls restraint and alters judgment.