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) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Who is rich? He that rejoices in his Portion.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
One cause, which is not always observed, of the insufficiency of riches, is that they very seldom make their owner rich.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
A fortune is usually the greatest of misfortunes to children. It takes the muscles out of the limbs, the brain out of the head, and virtue out of the heart. In this world, it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
If Heaven had looked upon riches to be a valuable thing, it would not have given them to such a scoundrel.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Real riches are the riches possessed inside.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants.
—Joseph Brotherton (1783–1857) English Politician, Reformer
A man seldom gets rich without ill-got gain; as a horse does not fatten without feeding in the night.
—Chinese Proverb
The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Riches should be admitted into our houses, but not into our hearts; we may take them into our possession, but not into our affections.
—Pierre Charron (1541–1603) French Preacher, Philosopher
He that is proud of riches is a fool. For if he be exalted above his neighbors because he hath more gold, how much inferior is he to a gold mine.
—Jeremy Taylor
That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Every man thinks God is on his side. The rich and powerful know he is.
—Jean Anouilh (1910–87) French Dramatist
There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.
—Billy Graham (1918–91) American Baptist Religious Leader
No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
The bottom line is in heaven.
—Edwin H. Land (1909–91) American Inventor, Physicist
He who multiplies riches, multiplies cares.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Riches are the pettiest and least worthy gifts which God can give a man. What are they to God’s Word, to bodily gifts, such as beauty and health; or to the gifts of the mind, such as understanding, skill, wisdom! Yet men toil for them day and night, and take no rest. Therefore God commonly gives riches to foolish people to whom he gives nothing else.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
If thou art rich, then show the greatness of thy fortune; or what is better, the greatness of thy soul, in the meekness of thy conversation; condescend to men of low estate, support the distressed, and patronize the neglected. Be great.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
If your riches are yours, why don’t you take them with to the other world?
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Riches ennoble a man’s circumstances, but not himself.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
Riches amassed in haste will diminish, but those collected by little and little will multiply.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Some of God’s noblest sons, I think, will be selected from those that know how to take wealth, with all its temptations, and maintain godliness therewith. It is hard to be a saint standing in a golden niche.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Her voice is full of money.
—Unknown
The pride of dying rich raises the loudest laugh in hell.
—John W. Foster
The greatest and the most amiable privilege which the rich enjoy over the poor is that which they exercise the least,—the privilege of making others happy.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
There is no less merit in keeping what we have got, than in first acquiring it. Chance has something to do with the one, while the other will always be the effect of skill.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
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