Money and Wealth

Many possessions, if they do not make a man better, are at least expected to make his children happier; and this pathetic hope is behind many exertions.

It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.

Possessions possess.

Possessions delude the human heart into believing that they provide security and a worry-free existence, but in truth they are the very cause of worry.

Unexpected money is a delight. The same sum is a bitterness when you expected more.

Money—pardon my expression—money is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around encouraging young things to grow.

Money’s a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet.

Money often costs too much.

Money cannot buy The fuel of love But is excellent kindling.

We all need money, but there are degrees of desperation.

When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.

and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes.

Money is human happiness in the abstract.

The price we have to pay for money is paid in liberty.

Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without an apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses.

Money is a singular thing. It ranks with love as man’s greatest source of joy. And with death as his greatest source of anxiety.

Money is a protection, a cloak; it can buy one quiet, and some sort of dignity.

Do not waste your time on Social Questions. What is the matter with the poor is Poverty: what is the matter with the rich is Uselessness.

Gambling promises the poor what Property performs for the rich: that is why the bishops dare not denounce it fundamentally.

The roulette table pays nobody except him that keeps it. Nevertheless a passion for gaming is common, though a passion for keeping roulette tables is unknown.

The most popular method of distributing wealth is the method of the roulette table.

He who gives money he has not earned is generous with other people's labor.

A gentleman of our days is one who has money enough to do what every fool would do if he could afford it: that is, consume without producing.

In an ugly and unhappy world the richest man can purchase nothing but ugliness and unhappiness.