Of rich men it telleth, and strange is the story how they have, and they hanker, and grip far and wide; And they live and they die, and the earth and its glory has been but a burden they scarce might abide.
—William Morris (1834–96) British Designer, Craftsman, Poet, Writer
Riches enlarge rather than satisfy appetites.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
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
The bottom line is in heaven.
—Edwin H. Land (1909–91) American Inventor, Physicist
Plenty and indigence depend upon the opinion everyone has of them; and riches, like glory or health, have no more beauty or pleasure, than their possessor is pleased to lend them.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
He who knows he has enough is rich.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments; any enlargement of wishes is therefore equally destructive to happiness with the diminution of possession, and he that teaches another to long for what he never shall obtain is no less an enemy to his quiet than if he had robbed him of part of his patrimony.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
An eager pursuit of fortune is inconsistent with a severe devotion to truth. The heart must grow tranquil before the thought can become searching.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
The use we make of our fortune determines as to its sufficiency.—A little is enough if used wisely, and too much if expended foolishly.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
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
That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
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
The acquisition of riches has been to many not an end to their miseries, but a change in them: The fault is not in the riches, but the disposition.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
The rich were dull and they drank too much or they played too much backgammon. They were dull and they were repetitious. He remembered poor Julian and his romantic awe of them and how he had started a story once that began, “The very rich are different from you and me.” And how someone had said to Julian, “Yes, they have more money.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
Have you never been moved by poor men’s fidelity, the image of you they form in their simple minds? Why should you always talk of their envy, without understanding that what they ask of you is not so much your worldly goods, as something very hard to define, which they themselves can put no name to; yet at times it consoles their loneliness; a dream of splendor, of magnificence, a tawdry dream, a poor man’s dream—and yet God blesses it!
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948) French Novelist, Polemicist
Riches do not delight us so much with their possession, as torment us with their loss.
—Dick Gregory (1932–2017) American Comedian, Civil Rights Activist
Man was born to be rich, or, grows rich by the use of his faculties, by the union of thought with nature. Property is an intellectual production. The game requires coolness, right reasoning, promptness, and patience in the players. Cultivated labor drives out brute labor.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Let us not envy some men their accumulated riches; their burden would be too heavy for us; we could not sacrifice, as they do, health, quiet, honor, and conscience, to obtain them: it is to pay so dear for them that the bargain is a loss.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
The larger the income, the harder it is to live within it.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
Much learning shows how little mortals know; much wealth, how little worldlings can enjoy.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Riches are a good hand maiden, but a poor mistress.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
He hath riches sufficient, who hath enough to be charitable.
—Thomas Browne (1605–82) English Author, Physician
The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
With the great part of rich people, the chief employment of riches consists in the parade of riches.
—George Goodman (b.1930) American Economist, Author
Riches are valuable at all times and to all men, because they always purchase pleasures such as men are accustomed to and desire: nor can anything restrain or regulate the love of money but a sense of honor and virtue, which, if not equal at all times, will naturally abound most in ages of knowledge and refinement.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
Riches exclude only one inconvenience, and that is poverty.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
I cannot call riches by a better name than the “baggage” of virtue; the Roman word is better, “impediment.” For as the baggage is to an army, so are riches to virtue. It cannot be spared or left behind, and yet it hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except in the distribution; the rest is but conceit.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
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
Riches are chiefly good because they give us time.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
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