quotations about wealth
Riches are but a means, or instrument; and the virtue of an instrument lies in its use.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
Great wealth and great poverty will disintegrate a nation in about the same time.
LEWIS F. KORNS
Thoughts
Let us not envy a certain class of men for their enormous riches; they have paid such an equivalent for them that it would not suit us; they have given for them their peace of mind, their health, their honour, and their conscience; this is rather too dear, and there is nothing to be made out of such a bargain.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères
He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it.
G. K. CHESTERTON
A Miscellany of Men
Our incomes should be like our shoes, if too small, they will gall and pinch us, but if too large, they will cause us to stumble and to trip. Wealth, after all, is a relative thing, since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much but wants more. True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Wealth makes an ugly person beautiful to look on and an incoherent speech eloquent; and wealth alone can enjoy pleasure even in sickness and can conceal its miseries.
SOPHOCLES
fragment, The Sons of Aleus
The fame of the rich man dies with him; the fame of the treasure, and not of the man who possessed it, remains.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Thoughts on Art and Life
I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue. The Roman word is better, impedimenta. For as the baggage is to an army, so is riches to virtue.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Riches", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
The use we make of our fortune determines its sufficiency. A little is enough if used wisely, and too much if expended foolishly.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Being wealthy and being successful and being able to run government are not synonymous.
AMEYA PAWAR
"Gubernatorial candidate targets 'wealth worship'", Chicago Sun-Times, April 9, 2017
Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.
REX STOUT
The Red Box
Wealth is the Conjurer's Devil,
Whom, when he thinks he hath, the Devil hath him.
GEORGE HERBERT
The Church-Porch
That which can be lost cannot be deemed riches.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Thoughts on Art and Life
In my years of working with people and their money, I can tell you that money is not their true wealth. Now, I am fully for working on and accumulation of one's net worth. Your net worth is the total of your assets minus your liabilities. Net worth is what we have to show for years of hard work, and rightfully it should add up to something significant. But your money, or even your net worth, is not your true wealth. Rather, True Wealth is all that money can't buy.
LOUANN SCHULFER
"Schulfer: Wealth money can't buy", Stevens Point Journal, February 3, 2016
A rich woman seems to have all her banknotes about her, guarding her virtue, like a cuirass, in the lining of her corset.
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
Madame Bovary
One of the biggest favours you can do yourself and your wealth is to address that gnawing "want", find tools to stop it getting out of control.
DAWN RIDLER
"Big wealth killers", Biz News, March 30, 2017
He who has wealth has friends.
CHANAKYA
Vridda-Chanakya
The fortunate man is he who, born poor, or nobody, works gradually up to wealth and consideration, and, having got them, dies before he finds they were not worth so much trouble.
CHARLES READE
Christie Johnstone
I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.
MARK TWAIN
American Claimant