quotations about wealth
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
Building long-term, sustainable wealth is a process that takes dedication and consistency, just like building muscle.
DAVID OSBORN & PAUL MORRIS
"Wealth Can't Wait is Released", Broadway World, April 4, 2017
So our Lord God commonly gives riches to those gross asses to whom He vouchsafes nothing else.
MARTIN LUTHER
attributed, Tischreden oder Colloquia
Wisdom ruleth in counsel -- so do riches.
LANCELOT ANDREWES
Ninety-six Sermons
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
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
Those that say they despise riches are saints or liars.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
As a rule, the most biting and bitter of the castigators of wealth are those who have signally failed in the pursuit of it.
JAMES PLATT
Platt's Essays, vol. II
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
Wealth hath never given happiness, but often hastened misery.
MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER
Proverbial Philosophy
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
Friends mostly test other's prosperity by their own; all wealth is but comparison of wealth.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
Wealth is a tide which flows into one place by ebbing from another.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
We never get far from wealth and all of its masks when we deal with power.
FRANK HERBERT
Children of Dune
Wealth is the ability to consume, nothing more and nothing less.
TIM WORSTALL
"Zuckerberg's Rise Up The Billionaires List Is A Sign Of Decreasing, Not Increasing, Inequality", Forbes, February 3, 2016
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
Riches are not an end of life but an instrument of life.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
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
Wealth is not just a matter of money. Wealth is also about power, status, opportunity, identity, and self-image. Wealth confers transformative advantages, while lack of it brings tremendous disadvantages. A family's income reflects educational and occupational achievements, but wealth is needed to solidify these achievements to build a solid foundation of economic security. Wealth is a fundamental pillar of economic security, and without it, hard-won gains are easily lost.
THOMAS M. SHAPIRO
"How Did America's Wealth Inequality Reach This Level of Toxic?", AlterNet, April 11, 2017
Wealth is an inborn attitude of mind, like poverty. The pauper who has made his pile may flaunt his spoils but cannot wear them plausibly.
JEAN COCTEAU
Les Enfants Terribles