quotations about wealth
Wealth in the modern world does not come merely from individual effort; it results from a combination of individual effort and of the manifold uses to which the community puts that effort. The individual does not create the product of his industry with his own hands; he utilizes the many processes and forces of mass production to meet the demands of a national and international market. Therefore, in spite of the great importance in our national life of the efforts and ingenuity of unusual individuals, the people in the mass have inevitably helped to make large fortunes possible. Without mass cooperation great accumulations of wealth would be impossible save by unhealthy speculation.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Message to Congress on Tax Revision, June 19, 1935
It's the American dream. A third of Americans think they'll be rich someday. More than half of 18-29 year olds think they will be. Less than 5% actually make it. And many of those do it the old-fashioned way: they inherit it.
STEVE ROTH
"New Data Reveal the Depressing Truth About How Wealth Is Amassed in America", AlterNet, January 6, 2017
As soon as I find myself in the presence of a rich man, I cannot help looking upon him as an exceptional and beautiful being, as a sort of marvellous divinity, and, in spite of myself, surmounting my will and my reason, I feel rising, from the depths of my being, toward this rich man, who is very often an imbecile, and sometimes a murderer, something like an incense of admiration. Is it not stupid? And why? Why?
OCTAVE MIRBEAU
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Wealth sticks out in our society because to have wealth is to use it. Just piling up numbers in an account doesn't do anyone any good. To have money is to spend money.
MICHAEL SWICKARD
"Look at the wealth effect in politics to catch scummy behavior", NMPolitics, January 25, 2016
But I have wealth he cannot touch,
Spoiler of kings!
For I have tasted agony
And worn joy's wings.
KARLE WILSON BAKER
"The Highwayman", Burning Bush
The wealth of the richest 62 people grew by more than half a trillion dollars in that last half-decade, while the wealth of the poorest 50 percent of people globally decreased by more than $1 trillion during the same period. Far from trickling down, income and wealth are instead being sucked upwards at an alarming rate.
GILLIAN B. WHITE
"Where Is All the World's Money Going?", The Atlantic, January 19, 2016
Wealth flows from energy and ideas.
WILLIAM FEATHER
Forbes, Volume 135
Luxury is artificial poverty; and no man has so much care as he who endeavours after the most riches.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine
Real estate is at the core of almost every business, and it's certainly at the core of most people's wealth. In order to build your wealth and improve your business smarts, you need to know about real estate.
DONALD TRUMP
Think Like a Billionaire
Those that say they despise riches are saints or liars.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
Flying under the radar also means you don't have to keep up with the Joneses. If people don't realize you're wealthy, they won't expect you to buy a bigger house, drive a nicer car, or shop at expensive stores. The pressure is off, so you are free to make whatever financial decisions are best for you.
SARAH WINFREY
"5 Reasons Stealth Wealth Is the Best Wealth", WiseBread, March 24, 2017
Wealth hath never given happiness, but often hastened misery.
MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER
Proverbial Philosophy
Wisdom ruleth in counsel -- so do riches.
LANCELOT ANDREWES
Ninety-six Sermons
The wealthy seldom possess wealth: oftener they are possessed by it.
IVAN PANIN
Thoughts
A rich man is an honest man--no thanks to him; for he would be a double knave, to cheat mankind when he had no need of it: he has no occasion to press upon his integrity, nor so much as to touch upon the borders of dishonesty.
DANIEL DEFOE
Robinson Crusoe
Capitalist production, therefore, develops technology, and the combining together of various processes into a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth -- the soil and the labourer.
KARL MARX
Capital
When a fortune comes without calling, it's apt to leave without asking.
GEORGE HORACE LORIMER
Old Gorgon Graham
Wealth is a tide which flows into one place by ebbing from another.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
So our Lord God commonly gives riches to those gross asses to whom He vouchsafes nothing else.
MARTIN LUTHER
attributed, Tischreden oder Colloquia
The great thing about having been poor is how liberated it makes you if you eventually become rich. There's nothing like the knowledge that you don't need money to survive. That the money cushion you lie on every night doesn't have to be three feet thick, and you can still get to sleep.
BILL MAHER
"The Great Thing About Having Been Poor", HuffPost, March 1, 2012