“The idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich.”

— Bertrand Russell

Source: 1930s, In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays (1935), Ch. 1: In Praise of Idleness

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Bertrand Russell 562

logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi… 1872–1970

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist

The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified

“Law and order are the privilege of the poor. So far as they affect the rich they are the restraint of the rich. It is for all those who are interested in the industry and commerce of this country, not for those who are interested merely in fixed capital and the leisurely enjoyment of its fruits, to struggle to maintain the idea of the supremacy of the law.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Speech to the Conference of the National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations in Oxford (23 November 1887), quoted in The Times (24 November 1887), p. 7
1880s

“I've been rich and I've been poor. It's better to be rich.”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

As quoted in Red Rabbit : A novel (2002) by Tom Clancy, p. 153

“I've been poor and I've been rich. Rich is better!”

Beatrice Kaufman (1895–1945) American writer and playwright

Leonard Lyons' column, The Washington Post, May 12, 1937. Quoted in the Yale Book of Quotations, and The Quote Verifier by Ralph Keyes. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/07/01/poor-rich/

“The gods of all pagan faiths have been allied with the rich rulers. The priests of most religions are the employees of the landowners. But the God of Israel has always claimed to be with the poor—whether in the legislation of Deuteronomy, the words of the prophets, or the experiences of the New Testament. Our God is on the side of the poor.”

John Howard Yoder (1927–1997) 20th century American Mennonite theologian

Source: Radical Christian Discipleship (2012), p. 41

“There have always been poor and working classes; and the working class have mostly been poor. But there have not always been workers and poor people living under conditions as they are today.”

Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) German social scientist, author, political theorist, and philosopher

(1847)

“Too often the reformer has been one who caused the rich to band themselves against the poor.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

Source: A Thousand & One Epigrams: Selected from the Writings of Elbert Hubbard (1911), p. 14.

“We have two American flags always: one for the rich and one for the poor. When the rich fly it means that things are under control; when the poor fly it means danger, revolution, anarchy.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

“The beloved of the Almighty are: the rich who have the humility of the poor, and the poor who have the magnanimity of the rich.”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

Saadi as translated in The Gulistān : Or, Rose-garden, of Shek̲h̲ Muslihu'd-dīn Sādī of Shīrāz as translated by Edward Backhouse Eastwick (1880), p. 203.
Misattributed

“If a governor comes out of his government rich, they say he has been a thief; and if he comes out poor, that he has been a noodle and a blockhead.”

Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright

Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part 2: Chapter LV

“The idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich.”

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Bertrand Russell 562

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