Quotes about money
page 3

Anne Frank photo

“People can so easily be tempted by slackness… and by money.”

Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary

Source: The Diary of a Young Girl

Terry Pratchett photo
Ronald Reagan photo

“Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.”

Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
Dorothy Parker photo

“If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Man and the Gospel (1865) by Thomas Guthrie "and you may know how little God thinks of money by observing on what bad and contemptible characters he often bestows it."
“We may see the small Value God has for Riches, by the People he gives them to.” -- Alexander Pope (1727).
Misattributed
Variant: If you want to know what the Lord God thinks of money, just look at those to whom he gives it.

Zig Ziglar photo
Terry Pratchett photo
Tim O'Reilly photo
Virginia Woolf photo

“Money dignifies what is frivolous if unpaid for.”

Source: A Room of One's Own

Tamora Pierce photo
Oscar Wilde photo

“Time is a waste of money.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (1894)
Source: Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

Tamora Pierce photo

“Money talks and walks, but it does not bark.”

Source: Bloodhound

Johnny Depp photo
Anthony Bourdain photo

“You have to be a romantic to invest yourself, your money, and your time in cheese.”

Medium Raw (2010)
Source: Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Friedrich Engels photo
Fabio Lanzoni photo
Theodore Roosevelt photo
Leonardo DiCaprio photo
José Saramago photo
Hans-Hermann Hoppe photo
Paul Keating photo

“Never get between a Premier and a bucket of money.”

Paul Keating (1944) Australian politician, 24th Prime Minister of Australia

as quoted in a 2014 Daily Telegraph article http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/all-riled-up-over-an-empty-bucket/news-story/93c0bff6a075170852189ba9a7480365

Frank Zappa photo

“Scientology, how about that? You hold on to the tin cans and then this guy asks you a bunch of questions, and if you pay enough money you get to join the master race. How's that for a religion?”

Frank Zappa (1940–1993) American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer

Concert address to audience at the Rockpile, Toronto (May 1969).

Karl Marx photo

“On the other hand one must not entertain any fantastic illusions on the productive power of the credit system, so far as it supplies or sets in motion money-capital.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Vol. II, Ch. XVII, p. 351.
(Buch II) (1893)

Barack Obama photo
Joseph Addison photo

“They were a people so primitive they did not know how to get money, except by working for it.”

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

Attributed to Addison in (K)new Words: Redefine Your Communication (2005), by Gloria Pierre, p. 120, there are no indications of such a statement in Addison's writings.
Misattributed

Anthony Giddens photo
Barack Obama photo

“For the average person, many folks who don't have health insurance initially, they're going to have to make some choices. And they might end up having to switch doctors, in part because they're saving money.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Interview with WebMD (14 March 2014) http://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/webmd-interviews-obama
2014

Chris Cornell photo

“I used to work in jobs I hated because I needed the money to buy a guitar. I know what it feels like to be depressed. On the other hand, I also know what it feels like to have money, to be successful, to be independent, but I can tell you that money and success never solve your problems.”

Chris Cornell (1964–2017) American singer-songwriter, musician

NYROCK: Interview with Chris Cornell, October 1, 1999 https://web.archive.org/web/20030919022841/http://www.nyrock.com/interviews/1999/cornell_int.asp,
On depression and suicide

Mark Twain photo
Leon Trotsky photo
Karl Marx photo
Saul Bellow photo

“There are evils, as someone has pointed out, that have the ability to survive identification and go on for ever — money, for instance, or war.”

The Dean’s December (1982) [Penguin Classics, 1998, ISBN 0-140-18913-0], ch. 13, p. 140
General sources

Selena photo
Virginia Woolf photo
Rick Astley photo
Samuel Butler photo
Stefan Zweig photo
Yukio Mishima photo

“Japanese people today think of money, just money: Where is our national spirit today? The Jieitai must be the soul of Japan. … The nation has no spiritual foundation. That is why you don’t agree with me. You will just be American mercenaries. There you are in your tiny world. You do nothing for Japan. … I salute the Emperor. Long live the emperor!”

Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) Japanese author

Addressing the SPF Garrison at Ichigaya Camp during his failed coup attempt, as quoted at "Yukio Mishima" by Kerry Bolton at Counter Currents Publishing http://www.counter-currents.com/2011/01/yukio-mishima-2/; upon going back inside he is said to have commented to his followers: "I don't think they even heard me".
Final address (1970)

Trent Reznor photo
Napoleon I of France photo

“Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

Attributed in Monarchy or Money Power (1933), by R. McNair Wilson. No primary source for this is known.
Attributed

Karl Marx photo

“It might otherwise appear paradoxical that money can be replaced by worthless paper; but that the slightest alloying of its metallic content depreciates it.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

(1857/58)
Source: Notebook VII, The Chapter on Capital, p. 734.

Ian Smith photo
Mark Twain photo

“Virtue never has been as respectable as money.”

Ch. 54 http://books.google.com/books?id=XX-wAAAAIAAJ&q="Virtue+never+has+been+as+respectable+as+money"&pg=PA589#v=onepage
The Innocents Abroad (1869)

John Lennon photo
Muhammad Yunus photo
Karl Marx photo

“Capital is money, capital is commodities. … By virtue of it being value, it has acquired the occult ability to add value to itself. It brings forth living offspring, or, at the least, lays golden eggs.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Vol. I, Ch. 4, pp. 171–172
(Buch I) (1867)

Jeremy Clarkson photo

“Italy's youngsters complain, apparently, about having to live at home until they are 72 but that's because they spend all their money on suits and coffee and Alfa Romeos rather than mortgages.”

Jeremy Clarkson (1960) English broadcaster, journalist and writer

The Unhappiest People on Earth? You'd never guess, p. 259
The World According to Clarkson (2005)

Mark Twain photo

“Honesty is the best policy — when there is money in it.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Speech to Eastman College (1901)

Hans-Hermann Hoppe photo

“According to the pronouncements of our state rulers and their intellectual bodyguards (of whom there are more than ever before), we are better protected and more secure than ever. We are supposedly protected from global warming and cooling, from the extinction of animals and plants, from the abuses of husbands and wives, parents and employers, from poverty, disease, disaster, ignorance, prejudice, racism, sexism, homophobia, and countless other public enemies and dangers. In fact, however, matters are strikingly different. In order to provide us with all this protection, the state managers expropriate more than 40 percent of the incomes of private producers year in and year out. Government debt and liabilities have increased without interruption, thus increasing the need for future expropriations. Owing to the substitution of government paper money for gold, financial insecurity has increased sharply, and we are continually robbed through currency depreciation. Every detail of private life, property, trade, and contract is regulated by ever higher mountains of laws legislation), thereby creating permanent legal uncertainty and moral hazard. In particular, we have been gradually stripped of the right to exclusion implied in the very concept of private property. … In short, the more the state has increased its expenditures on social security and public safety, the more our private property rights have been eroded, the more our property has been expropriated, confiscated, destroyed, or depreciated, and the more we have been deprived of the very foundation of all protection: economic independence, financial strength, and personal wealth.”

Hans-Hermann Hoppe (1949) Austrian school economist and libertarian anarcho-capitalist philosopher

"The Private Production of Defense" http://www.mises.org/journals/scholar/Hoppe.pdf (15 June 1999)

Themistocles photo

“I choose the likely man in preference to the rich man; I want a man without money rather than money without a man.”

Themistocles (-524–-459 BC) Athenian statesman

As quoted in The Quotable Intellectual (2010) edited by P. Archer, p. 152 http://books.google.com/books?id=QnDvIsNKNIwC

Karl Marx photo

“Money does not arise by convention, any more than the state does. It arises out of exchange, and arises naturally out of exchange; it is a product of the same.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Grundrisse (1857-1858)
Source: Notebook I, The Chapter on Money, p. 85.

P.T. Barnum photo

“Money is in some respects like fire; it is a very excellent servant but a terrible master.”

P.T. Barnum (1810–1891) American showman and businessman

Ch. 3: "Avoid Debt" http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/www/barnum/moneygetting/moneygetting_chap4.html
Art of Money Getting (1880)

Oscar Wilde photo

“No gentleman ever has any money.”

Algernon, Act II
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

Karl Marx photo
Klaus Kinski photo

“The street kid in me says, "Grab the money and run - who cares who it's from! Don't think about whatever you have to do for it or when you have to do it!"”

Klaus Kinski (1926–1991) German actor

Source: Kinski Uncut : The Autobiography of Klaus Kinski (1996), p. 289

Thomas Paine photo
Pink (singer) photo
Yuvan Shankar Raja photo
Mark Twain photo
Cate Blanchett photo
James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce photo
George W. Bush photo

“I made it very clear to the Congress that the use of federal money, taxpayers' money to promote science which destroys life in order to save life is — I'm against that. And therefore, if the bill does that, I will veto it.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

emphasis added
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050519182609990007&ncid=NWS00010000000001 AP, 21 May 2005
2000s, 2005

Voltaire photo

“In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

En général, l’art du gouvernement consiste à prendre le plus d’argent qu’on peut à une grande partie des citoyens, pour le donner à une autre partie.
"Money" (1770)
Citas, Questions sur l'Encyclopédie (1770–1774)

Fran Lebowitz photo
Benjamin Franklin photo

“Remember that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, rather thrown away, five shillings, besides.
“Remember, that credit is money. If a man lets his money lie in my hands after it is due, he gives me interest, or so much as I can make of it during that time. This amounts to a considerable sum where a man has good and large credit, and makes good use of it.
“Remember, that money is of the prolific, generating nature. Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more, and so on. Five shillings turned is six, turned again it is seven and three pence, and so on, till it becomes a hundred pounds. The more there is of it, the more it produces every turning, so that the profits rise quicker and quicker. He that kills a breeding sow, destroys all her offspring to the thousandth generation. He that murders a crown, destroys all that it might have produced, even scores of pounds.”
“Remember this saying, The good paymaster is lord of another man’s purse. He that is known to pay punctually and exactly to the time he promises, may at any time, and on any occasion, raise all the money his friends can spare. This is sometimes of great use. After industry and frugality, nothing contributes more to the raising of a young man in the world than punctuality and justice in all his dealings; therefore never keep borrowed money an hour beyond the time you promised, lest a disappointment shut up your friend’s purse for ever.
“The most trifling actions that affect a man’s credit are to be regarded. The sound of your hammer at five in the morning, or eight at night, heard by a creditor, makes him easy six months longer; but if he sees you at a billiard table, or hears your voice at a tavern, when you should be at work, he sends for his money the next day; demands it, before he can receive it, in a lump. ‘It shows, besides, that you are mindful of what you owe; it makes you appear a careful as well as an honest man, and that still increases your credit.’
“Beware of thinking all your own that you possess, and of living accordingly. It is a mistake that many people who have credit fall into. To prevent this, keep an exact account for some time both of your expenses and your income. If you take the pains at first to mention particulars, it will have this good effect: you will discover how wonderfully small, trifling expenses mount up to large sums, and will discern what might have been, and may for the future be saved, without occasioning any great inconvenience.
“For six pounds a year you may have the use of one hundred pounds, provided you are a man of known prudence and honesty.
“He that spends a groat a day idly, spends idly above six pounds a year, which is the price for the use of one hundred pounds.
“He that wastes idly a groat’s worth of his time per day, one day with another, wastes the privilege of using one hundred pounds each day.
“He that idly loses five shillings’ worth of time, loses five shillings, and might as prudently throw five shillings into the sea.
“He that loses five shillings, not only loses that sum, but all the advantage that might be made by turning it in dealing, which by the time that a young man becomes old, will amount to a considerable sum of money.””

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …

“We are able to breathe, drink, and eat in comfort because millions of organisms and hundreds of processes are operating to maintain a liveable environment, but we tend to take nature's services for granted because we don't pay money for most of them.”

Eugene P. Odum (1913–2002) mathematician, ecologist, natural philosopher, and systems ecologist

Eugene Odum (1975) A Bridge Between Science and Society as cited in: Edward Goldsmith (2002) " Ecology – a bridge http://www.edwardgoldsmith.org/737/"

Karl Marx photo

“Money is a crystal formed of necessity in the course of the exchanges, whereby different products of labour are practically equated to one another and thus by practice converted into commodities.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Vol. I, Ch. 2, pg. 99.
(Buch I) (1867)

Voltaire photo

“Money is always to be found when men are to be sent to the frontiers to be destroyed: when the object is to preserve them, it is no longer so.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

On en trouve [l'argent] toujours quand il s’agit d’aller faire tuer des hommes sur la frontière: il n’y en a plus quand il faut les sauver.
"Charity" (1770)
Citas, Questions sur l'Encyclopédie (1770–1774)

Richard Branson photo

“My philosophy is that if I have any money I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around.”

Richard Branson (1950) English business magnate, investor and philanthropist

From his interview in The Sunday Mirror, 16th January 2000

Terry Pratchett photo
Claude Monet photo
James Tobin photo
Chris Hedges photo
Malcolm X photo

“You put the government on the spot when you even mention Vietnam. They feel embarrassed — you notice that?… It's just a trap that they let themselves get into. … But they're trapped, they can't get out. You notice I said 'they.' They are trapped, They can't get out. If they pour more men in, they'll get deeper. If they pull the men out, it's a defeat. And they should have known that in the first place. France had about 200,000 Frenchmen over there, and the most highly mechanized modern army sitting on this earth. And those little rice farmers ate them up, and their tanks, and everything else. Yes, they did, and France was deeply entrenched, had been there a hundred or more years. Now, if she couldn't stay there and was entrenched, why, you are out of your mind if you think Sam can get in over there. But we're not supposed to say that. If we say that, we're anti-American, or we're seditious, or we're subversive…. They put Diem over there. Diem took all their money, all their war equipment and everything else, and got them trapped. Then they killed him. Yes, they killed him, murdered him in cold blood, him and his brother, Madame Nhu's husband, because they were embarrassed. They found out that they had made him strong and he was turning against them…. You know, when the puppet starts talking back to the puppeteer, the puppeteer is in bad shape….”

Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist

January 1965, p. 217
Malcolm X Speaks (1965)

“If money is all that a man makes, then he will be poor — poor in happiness, poor in all that makes life worth living.”

Herbert N. Casson (1869–1951) Canadian journalist and writer

Herbert N. Casson cited in: Forbes magazine (1950) The Forbes scrapbook of Thoughts on the business of life. p. 302
1950s and later

J. P. Morgan photo

“The first thing [in credit] is character … before money or anything else. Money cannot buy it.… A man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom. I think that is the fundamental basis of business.”

J. P. Morgan (1837–1913) American financier, banker, philanthropist and art collector

Testimony to the Pujo Committee (1912)
Untermyer: Is not commercial credit based primarily upon money or property?
Morgan: No, sir; the first thing is character.
Testimony to the Pujo Committee (1912)

Mukta Barve photo

“I love theatre and films. And when you love something so passionately, don't you find time to indulge in those passions. There are many people who say that theatre has no money, the audience is dwindling etc., but I don't like to give excuses for not doing theatre. I decide on my schedule beforehand, and till date I've never had problems.”

Mukta Barve (1979) Indian actress

I don't like to give excuses for not doing Marathi theatre:Mukta Barve http://m.timesofindia.com/entertainment/marathi/movies/news/I-dont-like-to-give-excuses-for-not-doing-Marathi-theatre-Mukta-Barve/articleshow/18970947.cms

Jodie Marsh photo

“I could've been a lawyer by now, I could've gone to uni. But I've taken the quickest and easiest route to making as much money as I can, and having as much fun as I can, and I don't regret that.”

Jodie Marsh (1978) English glamour model and television personality

Interview in The Guardian, 25 January 2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/jan/25/broadcasting.bigbrother

Huey Long photo
Karl Marx photo

“The way to Hell is paved with good intentions, and he might just as easily have intended to make money, without producing at all.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Vol. I, Ch. 7, pg. 213.
(Buch I) (1867)

Livy photo
Tupac Shakur photo
Karl Marx photo

“Gold is now money with reference to all other commodities only because it was previously, with reference to them, a simple commodity.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Vol. I, Ch. 1, Section 3, pg. 81.
(Buch I) (1867)

Pedro Muñoz Seca photo

“You can take my money from me; you can take my watch away; you can stripe me off my clothes; you may even can kill me. And yet, there is only a thing you will not be able to take away from me, no matter how hard you try: the fear I am feeling.”

Pedro Muñoz Seca (1879–1936) Spanish writer

Said in november 1936 during the summary trial in which he was condemned to death.
Source: http://www.abc.es/20081104/opinion-firmas/mataron-munoz-seca-20081104.html

Stan Lee photo
Krist Novoselic photo

“I voted last week, and everything I voted for was defeated. I voted for less police station money and against adding more courtrooms. The guy I voted for, a congressman, lost big time because he's totally anti-military. He wanted to cut the CIA budget! He's really cool. But he lost.”

Krist Novoselic (1965) Croatian-American rock musician

As quoted in "Take The Money and Run", Sounds (27 December 1990), interviewed by Keith Cameron on 23 September 1990<sup> http://www.livenirvana.com/interviews/9009kc/index.html</sup>

José Saramago photo

“Now we live in the empire of oil and money — the rest is disguise.”

José Saramago (1922–2010) Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature

ÉPOCA Interview (in Portuguese) http://revistaepoca.globo.com/Epoca/0,6993,EPT1061569-1666-2,00.html, São Paulo, 2005.

John D. Rockefeller photo

“I believe it is a religious duty to get all the money you can, fairly and honestly; to keep all you can, and to give away all you can.”

John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist

TIME Magazine (21. May 1928) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,731797,00.html

Tupac Shakur photo

“Currency means nothing if you still ain't free. Money breeds jealousy. Take the game from me; I hope for better days. Trouble comes naturally. Running from authorities. 'Til they capture me, and my aim is to spread more smiles than tears. Utilize lessons learned from my childhood years.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

"Hold Ya Head" https://play.google.com/music/preview/Te5ppuyfquh4t6lnlla3zs6w33e?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics
1990s, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)

Socrates photo