Think and grow rich.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
Do not waste your time on Social Questions. What is the matter with the poor is Poverty; what is the matter with the rich is Uselessness.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Plenty makes dainty!
—Scottish Proverb
Her voice is full of money.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
There is no security against the perils of wealth except in becoming rich toward God.
—Charles Simmons (1924–2017) American Editor, Novelist
For just as poets love their own works, and fathers their own children, in the same way those who have created a fortune value their money, not merely for its uses, like other persons, but because it is their own production. This makes them moreover disagreeable companions, because they will praise nothing but riches.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
The pulpit and the press have many commonplaces denouncing the thirst for wealth; but if men should take these moralists at their word, and leave off aiming to be rich, the moralists would rush to rekindle, at all hazards, this love of power in the people lest civilization should be undone.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
The trouble is that rich people, well-to-do people, very often don’t really know who the poor are; and that is why we can forgive them, for knowledge can only lead to love, and love to service. And so, if they are not touched by them, it’s because they do not know them.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
The only wealth is life.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
Great abundance of riches cannot be gathered and kept by any man without sin.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
The fortune which nobody sees makes a person happy and unenvied.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
When the anger of the gods is incurred, wealth or power only bring more devastating punishment.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
If you can count your money, you don’t have a billion dollars.
—J. Paul Getty (1892–1976) American Business Person, Art Collector, Philanthropist
Ill fares the land To hastening ills a prey When wealth accumulates But men decay.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
It is impossible to think of Howard Hughes without seeing the apparently bottomless gulf between what we say we want and what we do want, between what we officially admire and secretly desire, between, in the largest sense, the people we marry and the people we love. In a nation which increasingly appears to prize social virtues, Howard Hughes remains not merely antisocial but grandly, brilliantly, surpassingly, asocial. He is the last private man, the dream we no longer admit.
—Joan Didion (b.1934) American Essayist, Novelist, Memoirist
The poor are the only consistent altruists; they sell all they have and give it to the rich.
—Holbrook Jackson (1874–1948) British Journalist, Writer, Publisher
Well, yes, you could say we have independent means.
—John D. Rockefeller III (1906–78) American Philanthropist
Ones real deathless wealth is all the beautiful souls one has seen and spiritually touched.
—Olive Schreiner (1855–1920) South African Writer, Feminist
It is, generally, in the season of prosperity that men discover their real temper, principles, and designs.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Wealth is well known to be a great comforter.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Wealth unused might as well not exist.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
A great fortune is a great servitude.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness.
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–93) English Playwright, Poet, Translator
The secret point of money and power in America is neither the things that money can buy nor power for power’s sake but absolute personal freedom, mobility, privacy.
—Joan Didion (b.1934) American Essayist, Novelist, Memoirist
Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
We who are rich are often demanding and difficult. We shut ourselves up in our apartments and may even use a watchdog to defend our property. Poor people, of course, have nothing to defend and often share the little they have.
When people have all the material things they need, they seem not to need each other. They are self-sufficient. There is no interdependence. There is no love.
—Jean Vanier (1928–2019) French-Canadian Philosopher, Theologian, Humanitarian
What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
I don’t know much about being a millionaire, but I’ll bet I’d be darling at it.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
To whom can riches give repute, or trust, content, or pleasure, but the good and the just?
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.
—Lane Kirkland (1922–99) American Labor Leader
Speculation is the romance of trade, and casts contempt upon all its sober realities. It renders the stock-jobber a magician, and the exchange a region of enchantment.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
The rich man has his motor car,
His country and his town estate
He smokes a fifty-cent cigar
And jeers at fate.
Yet though my lamp burn low and dim,
Though I must slave for livelihood,
Think you that I would change with him?
You bet I would!
—Franklin P. Adams (1881–1960) American Columnist, Radio Personality, Author
The secret point of money and power in America is neither the things that money can buy nor power for power’s sake… but absolute personal freedom, mobility, privacy. It is the instinct which drove America to the Pacific, all through the nineteenth century, the desire to be able to find a restaurant open in case you want a sandwich, to be a free agent, live by one’s own rules.
—Joan Didion (b.1934) American Essayist, Novelist, Memoirist
The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting all working people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds. Nor should this lead us to a war upon property, or the owners of property. Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus, by example, assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
You can’t take it with you when you go.
—Common Proverb
It is better to live rich than to die rich.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Worldly wealth is the devil’s bait; and those whose minds feed upon riches, recede in general from real happiness, in proportion as their stores increase; as the moon, when she is fullest of light, is farthest from the sun.
—Richard Burton (1925–84) Welsh Actor
It is a wise man who lives with money in the bank, it is a fool who dies that way.
—French Proverb
He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Think it more satisfactory to live richly than die rich.
—Thomas Browne (1605–82) English Author, Physician
He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Every man of ambition has to fight his century with its own weapons. What this century worships is wealth. The God of this century is wealth. To succeed one must have wealth. At all costs one must have wealth.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
There is no gain so certain as that which arises from sparing what you have.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer