quotations about wealth
Wealth is power, and power is the only thing about which contemporary culture cares.
DEAN KOONTZ
Brother Odd
I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.
MARK TWAIN
American Claimant
Wealth makes an ugly person beautiful to look on and an incoherent speech eloquent; and wealth alone can enjoy pleasure even in sickness and can conceal its miseries.
SOPHOCLES
fragment, The Sons of Aleus
Nought is there in wealth
That serves as bulwark 'gainst the subtle stealth
Of Destiny and Doom.
AESCHYLUS
Agamemnon
Riches have never fascinated me, unless combined with the greatest charm or distinction.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
letter to Ernest Hemingway, August 1936
Wealth is the Conjurer's Devil,
Whom, when he thinks he hath, the Devil hath him.
GEORGE HERBERT
The Church-Porch
A rich woman seems to have all her banknotes about her, guarding her virtue, like a cuirass, in the lining of her corset.
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
Madame Bovary
Let us not envy a certain class of men for their enormous riches; they have paid such an equivalent for them that it would not suit us; they have given for them their peace of mind, their health, their honour, and their conscience; this is rather too dear, and there is nothing to be made out of such a bargain.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
"The Deserted Village"
I spend my life hustling for small money, staying one step ahead of de police. But I will not do dat all my life. You see, I done read Napoleon Hill and as a thinking man, and with de grace of God, I go be millionaire before I reach thirty.
CHRIS ABANI
Graceland
The most wanton torture is that of the rich trying to kill time.
LEWIS F. KORNS
Thoughts
Great wealth and great poverty will disintegrate a nation in about the same time.
LEWIS F. KORNS
Thoughts
We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse.
MADAME SWETCHINE
"Airelles", The Writings of Madame Swetchine
Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.
REX STOUT
The Red Box
I call this inequality toxic because, over time and generations, it builds upon itself. Wealth and race map together to consolidate historic injustices, which now weave through neighborhoods and housing markets, educational institutions, and labor markets, creating an increasingly divided opportunity structure. So long as we have entrenched wealth inequality intertwined with racial inequality, we cannot even begin to bend the arc toward equity.
THOMAS M. SHAPIRO
"How Did America's Wealth Inequality Reach This Level of Toxic?", AlterNet, April 11, 2017
I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue. The Roman word is better, impedimenta. For as the baggage is to an army, so is riches to virtue.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Riches", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
Beauty and strength were, both of them, much esteemed;
Then wealth was discovered and soon after gold
Which quickly became more honoured than strength or beauty.
For men, however strong or beautiful,
Generally follow the train of a richer man.
LUCRETIUS
De Rerum Natura
Successfully navigating wealth is a bit like flying a jetliner -- two, well-matched wings are required. One strong and one weak wing won't do; failure of either wing is catastrophic. In many families that flounder, the "planning wing" has received disproportionate attention -- trusts are established, advisors are in place, tax strategies are adopted and investment approaches are calibrated. The planning is superb. But, these complex structures comprise only one wing of the plane, and the other is equally important: family "culture."
MATTHEW WESLEY
"Wealth Planning Structures Must Match Family Cultures", Wealth Management, April 5, 2017
A little in one's own pocket is better than much in another man's purse.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
Don Quixote
Almost every wealthy man in this country will tell you that his greatest satisfaction and happiest days were when he was emerging from poverty into a competency; when he first felt the tonic from the swelling of his small savings towards the stream of fortune, and knew that want would no longer dog his steps.
ORISON SWETT MARDEN
The Miracle of Right Thought