On the soft bed of luxury, most kingdoms have expired.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
By luxury we condemn ourselves to greater torments than have yet been invented by anger or revenge, or inflicted by the greatest tyrants upon the orst of men.
—William Temple (1881–1944) British Clergyman, Theologian
Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.
—Coco Chanel (1883–1971) French Fashion Designer
Luxury, so far as it reaches the people, will do good to the race of people; it will strengthen and multiply them. Sir, no nation was ever hurt by luxury; for, as I said before; it can reach but a very few.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Other passions have objects to flatter them, and which seem to content and satisfy them for a while.—There is power in ambition, pleasure in luxury, and pelf in covetousness; but envy can gain nothing but vexation.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Living in the lap of luxury isn’t bad, except that you never know when luxury is going to stand up.
—Orson Welles (1915–85) American Film Director, Actor
Sofas ’twas half a sin to sit upon,
So costly were they; carpets, every stitch
Of workmanship so rare, they make you wish
You could glide o’er them like a golden fish.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.
—Golda Meir (1898–1978) Israeli Head of State
A sentimentalist is simply one who desires to have the LUXURY of an emotion without paying for it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel no one else has a right to blame us.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Fell luxury! more perilous to youth than storms or quicksands, poverty or chains.
—Hannah More
The ultimate of being successful is the luxury of giving yourself the time to do what you want to do.
—Leontyne Price (b.1927) American Opera Singer
Luxury, that alluring pest with fair forehead, which, yielding always to the will of the body, throws a deadening influence over the senses, and weakens the limbs more than the drugs of Circe’s cup.
—Claudian (c.370–c.404 CE) Roman Poet
Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Unless we are accustomed to them from early youth, splendid chambers and elegant furniture had best be left to people who neither have nor can have any thoughts.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Sedition is bred in the lap of luxury and its chosen emissaries are the beggared spendthrift and the impoverished libertine.
—George Bancroft (1800–91) American Historian, Politician
But the bravest man amongst us is afraid of himself. The mutilation of the savage has its tragic survival in the self-denial that mars our lives. We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind and poisons us. The body sins once, and has done with its sin, for action is a mode of purification. Nothing remains then but the recollection of a pleasure, or the luxury of a regret. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful. It has been said that the great events of the world take place in the brain. It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place also.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Sincerity is the luxury allowed, like diadems and authority, only to the highest rank… . Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Let us consider what we call vicious luxury. No gratification, however sensual, can of itself be esteemed vicious. A gratification is only vicious when it engrosses all a man’s expense, and leaves no ability for such acts of duty and generosity as are required by his situation and fortune. The same care and toil that raise a dish of peas at Christmas would give bread to a whole family during six months.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt: It’s like sending them ruffles, when wanting a shirt.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury—you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Poverty wants some things, Luxury many things, Avarice all things.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
We see the pernicious effects of luxury in the ancient Romans, who immediately found themselves poor as soon as this vice got footing among them.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
All luxury corrupts either the morals or the taste.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
He repents on thorns that sleeps in beds of roses.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
Now we suffer the evils of a long peace; luxury more cruel than war broods over us and avenges a conquered world.
—Juvenal (c.60–c.136 CE) Roman Poet
I know it is more agreeable to walk upon carpets than to lie upon dungeon floors, I know it is pleasant to have all the comforts and luxuries of civilization; but he who cares only for these things is worth no more than a butterfly, contented and thoughtless, upon a morning flower; and who ever thought of rearing a tombstone to a last summer’s butterfly?
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence,—luxury, skepticism, weariness and superstition,—are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
I always thought I should be treated like a star.
—Madonna (b.1958) American Pop Singer, Actress