quotations about wealth
The secret of great fortunes without apparent cause is a crime forgotten, for it was properly done.
HONORE DE BALZAC
Père Goriot
The wise man knoweth where to stop, as he runneth in the race of fortune,
For experience of old hath taught him, that happiness lingered midway;
And many in hot pursuit have hasted to the goal of wealth,
But have lost, as they ran, those apples of gold--the mind and the power to enjoy it.
MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER
Proverbial Philosophy
Our wealth is often a snare to ourselves, and always a temptation to others.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Wealth held by a class and used ambitiously becomes as despotic as an absolute monarchy, and has in its hands manners, customs, laws, institutions, and governments themselves.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
When Wealth walks in at the Door, the Press Agent comes in through the Window.
GEORGE ADE
"The Through Train", Knocking the Neighbors
The most wanton torture is that of the rich trying to kill time.
LEWIS F. KORNS
Thoughts
I account the office of benefactor, or almoner, to which God appoints all those whom he has favored with wealth, one of the most honorable and delightful in the world. He never institutes a channel for the passage of His bounties that those bounties do not enrich and beautify.
JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND
Gold-Foil
Those who have earned a fortune are usually more careful of it than those who have inherited one.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Wealth builders stay motivated and inspire others to keep on keeping on.
KEN DOGHUDJE
"Forget about building wealth if you don't have these 14 skills and abilities", NAIJ, January 29, 2016
That which can be lost cannot be deemed riches.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Thoughts on Art and Life
If you are rich, you have to be an idiot not to stay rich. And if you are poor, you have to be really smart to get rich.
JOHN GREEN
"The Greek Debt Crisis Explained in Four Minutes", YouTube
We may see the small value God has for riches by the people he gives them to.
ALEXANDER POPE
"Thoughts on Various Subjects"
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
"The Deserted Village"
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
I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.
MARK TWAIN
American Claimant
A little in one's own pocket is better than much in another man's purse.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
Don Quixote
I spend my life hustling for small money, staying one step ahead of de police. But I will not do dat all my life. You see, I done read Napoleon Hill and as a thinking man, and with de grace of God, I go be millionaire before I reach thirty.
CHRIS ABANI
Graceland
Many people dream of inheriting a large sum of money. We spend time imagining the cars we will buy, the homes we will live in and the holidays we will take once we hit "the good times". However, most wealth advisers will tell you that those who inherit money face many challenges -- not least of which is maintaining this wealth and not squandering, in a short space of time, what may have taken generations to accrue.
JACQUES BROWN
"Inherited wealth is not an easy windfall", iAfrica, March 24, 2017
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
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