Quotes about wealth
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Prem Rawat photo
Thomas Carlyle photo
Salvador Dalí photo

“So, André Breton, if tonight I dream I am screwing you, tomorrow morning I will paint all of our best fucking positions with the greatest wealth of detail.”

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) Spanish artist

Quote, early 1930's; as quoted by Jonathan Jones in his article 'André in wonderland'; The Guardian / Culture, 16 June, 2004 https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/jun/16/1
In the early 1930's Dalí was judged by a surrealist 'high court' at André Breton's flat; Dali was accused of 'counter-revolutionary actions' because of his supposed political sympathy for fascism. Dalí claimed that he was being an honest and pure surrealist, recording the unexpurgated contents of his psychic life - which this quote should illustrate.
Quotes of Salvador Dali, 1920 - 1930

Jamelle Bouie photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Gregory Benford photo

“Manufacturing creates wealth, services distribute it.”

Gregory Benford (1941) Science fiction author and astrophysicist

Source: Short fiction, The Man Who Sold The Stars (2013), p. 320

Thomas Hylland Eriksen photo
Marianne Williamson photo

“When 1% of the population owns more wealth than the bottom 90%, the last people you should be asking for economic advice are the people who created that situation.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Twitter https://twitter.com/marwilliamson (26 Nov 2019)
Williamson's quotes in social media

Evagrius Ponticus photo

“Do not desire wealth for giving to the poor.”

Evagrius Ponticus (345–399) Christian monk

Outline Teaching on Asceticism and Stillness in the Solitary Life, vol. 1, p. 32
The Philokalia

David Hilbert photo
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar photo
Robert B. Reich photo
Marilyn Ferguson photo
Anna J. Cooper photo
Malcolm Muggeridge photo
Warren Buffett photo
Richard D. Wolff photo

“When workers make the decisions, you stop outsourcing jobs, you stop the wealth gap, you stop inequality.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

Global Capitalism Monthly Update (12 March 2014)

Richard D. Wolff photo
Richard D. Wolff photo
Richard D. Wolff photo
Shaun Chamberlin photo
Mike Pompeo photo

“Over the five, ten, twenty-five year time horizon, just by simple demographics and wealth, as well as by the internal system in that country, China presents the greatest challenge that the United States will face in the medium to long-term.”

Mike Pompeo (1963) 70th United States Secretary of State, former Director of Central Intelligence Agency and former Congressman fro…

Pompeo: China Is Biggest Threat to the United States, Breitbart, (10 December 2018)
2018

“Those who make laws, appropriate wealth in order to secure power.”

Thomas Hodgskin (1787–1869) British writer

Source: The Natural and Artificial Right of Property Contrasted (1832), p. 49

Luís de Camões photo

“Proud over the rest, with splendid wealth arrayed,
As crown on, Europe's head
The Lusitania reign,
Where the land ends and seas begins.”

Luís de Camões (1524–1580) Portuguese poet

Epic poetry, Os Lusíadas (1572), Canto III
Original: (pt) Eis aqui, quase cume da cabeça
De Europa toda, o Reino Lusitano,
Onde a terra se acaba e o mar começa.

Stanza 20, lines 1–3 (tr. William Julius Mickle)

Jamelle Bouie photo

“[L]eaving home is hard, and the social distance of wealth makes it even harder.”

Jamelle Bouie (1987) American columnist and political correspondent

About Richard Sherman's statements in defense of DeSean Jackson, who was cut from the Philadelphia Eagles amid reports of gang ties.
Down and Out, 2014

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad photo

“When wealth,power, and media are monopolized by a minority, how can they speak about freedom and justice? The capitalist systems can never grant freedom and justice.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (1956) 6th President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Twitter https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956 18 Feb 2019
2019

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad photo

“Power and wealth must be in the hands of all, this occurrence needs capable and just managers.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (1956) 6th President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Twitter 21 Aug 2018
2018

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad photo

“The main problem in the world is that power, and wealth is in the hands of a few elite.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (1956) 6th President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Twitter 22 Aug 2018
2018

George Monbiot photo
Theodor Herzl photo

“Wealth owes its existence to labour, not labour to wealth.”

Leon MacLaren (1910–1994) British philosopher

Leon MacLaren, Nature of Society and Other Essays

Ibn Hazm photo

“Compare yourself, for wealth, status and health to those lower than you. For faith, science, and virtue, compare yourself to those who are higher than you.”

Ibn Hazm (994–1064) Arab theologian

Kitab al-Akhlaq wa’l Siyar ; Trsltd by N. Tomiche under the title: Epitre Morale, Collection UNESCO, Beyrouth, 1961, p. 21.

Harry Gordon Selfridge photo
Harry Gordon Selfridge photo
Harry Gordon Selfridge photo
Harry Gordon Selfridge photo

“[W]ithout Commerce there is no wealth.”

Harry Gordon Selfridge (1858–1947) America born English businessman

The Romance of Commerce (1918), Concerning Commerce

Dorothy Thompson photo

“The easiest way to simplify society is to reduce it to a military organization. That is the most primitive form of social organization. And that is precisely what is being done. The unit of communal life shrinks. Wealth, prosperity, inventiveness, choice, demand are subordinated to simplified nationalistic aims. The very mind which created the liberal universe becomes atrophied through disuse.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 72

Dorothy Thompson photo

“[P]rivate enterprise and initiative, willing to take risks in the hope of gain, allowed to function in freedom, have produced the greatest wealth ever know in the history of mankind. And that if you stop this process and turn everything over to government, the activity will slow down, inventiveness will cease, and we shall get not equalization of riches, but equalization of poverty.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 27

Dorothy Thompson photo
Dorothy Thompson photo

“The production of wealth by private enterprise is called Capitalism. It is hard to call Capitalism one of the isms, because Capitalism is not a creed at all. Capitalism was not ‘invented’ by any sociologist or philosopher. Capitalists never called themselves that. The word was invented by socialists to describe what they hated.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 25

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury photo
Neil Kinnock photo

“When I started to encounter Marxism at 16, the elementary truths of the surplus value theory and more than anything else, the logical argument that he produced that labour was the source of all wealth, gave me a political and intellectual justification for what I believed in a way that nothing else did.”

Neil Kinnock (1942) British politician

Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science
Source: Interview with Sam Aaronovitch for Marxism Today (June 1983) http://banmarchive.org.uk/collections/mt/pdf/83_06_06.pdf

Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan photo

“Wealth is not money. Wealth lies in men. This is where true power lies, the power we value. This is what has convinced us to direct all our resources to build the individual, and to use the wealth which God has provided us in the service of the nation.”

Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918–2004) Sheikh of Abu Dhabi (1918-2004)

1 https://en.vogue.me/culture/the-most-inspirational-quotes-from-the-late-sheikh-zayed/, 3 https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/9827319.Sheikh_Zayed_Al_Nahyan

Prevale photo

“The greatest wealth one can have in the world is pure simplicity.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) La ricchezza più grande che si possa avere al mondo, è la pura semplicità.
Source: prevale.net

Leo Tolstoy photo
Joseph Chamberlain photo

“The goal towards which the advance will probably be made at an accelerated pace, is that in the direction of which the legislation of the last quarter of a century has been tending—the intervention, in other words, of the State on behalf of the weak against the strong, in the interests of labour against capital, of want and suffering against luxury and wealth.”

Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914) British businessman, politician, and statesman

‘The Revolution of 1884’, The Fortnightly Review, No. CCXVII, New Series (1 January 1885), quoted in T. H. S. Escott (ed.), The Fortnightly Review, Vol. XXXVII, New Series (1 January – 1 June 1885), p. 9
1880s

Mary Ruwart photo
Mary Ruwart photo

“Wealth is created when we use existing resources in new ways. Since such creativity is virtually limitless, wealth is too.”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Healing Our World: In An Age of Aggression, (2003), p. 17

Mary Ruwart photo
David Cay Johnston photo
Rutger Bregman photo
John F. Kennedy photo
Ernie Banks photo
Oprah Winfrey photo

“I know that inner wisdom is more precious than wealth. The more you spend it, the more you gain.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
Jack Vance photo

“My wealth is my shelf of books!”

Source: Demon Princes (1964-1981), The Face (1979), Chapter 14 (p. 173)

Thaddeus McCotter photo

“They’re trying to keep the populists of both left and right apart with cultural issues, and they’re doing it to insulate themselves from any combination or constituency that can come after their power, perks and wealth. They’re dividing and conquering.”

Thaddeus McCotter (1965) American politician

Exclusive — Thaddeus McCotter: Elites’ Greatest Fear Is Left-Right Populist Unity https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2021/07/27/exclusive-thaddeus-mccotter-elites-greatest-fear-is-left-right-populist-unity/ (27 July 2021)

Maximilien Robespierre photo
Valentin Varennikov photo

“The reason for the collapse of the USSR was only the betrayal of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, who were led by the United States. The American administration has always, all the years, strived to destroy the USSR, and now Russia, and take advantage of our wealth.”

Valentin Varennikov (1923–2009) Soviet general and russian politician

"Горбачев сказал нам: "Действуйте, как хотите" " https://ytro.news/articles/2007/08/20/672987.shtml

Eduard Bernstein photo

“The increase of social wealth is not accompanied by a diminishing number of capitalist magnates, but by an increasing number of capitalists of all degrees.”

Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932) German politician

Source: "Evolutionary Socialism" (1899) https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bernstein/works/1899/evsoc/index.htm, Chapter II, The Economic Development of Modern Society

Ma Huateng photo

“Wealth won’t give you satisfaction, creating a good product that’s well received by users is what matters most.”

Ma Huateng (1971) Chinese internet entrepreneur

"TC Disrupt Beijing: A Fireside Chat With Tencent CEO Pony Ma" in Techcrunch (31 October 2011) https://techcrunch.com/2011/10/30/tc-disrupt-beijing-a-fireside-chat-with-tencent-ceo-pony-ma/

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Aubrey Thomas de Vere photo
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar photo
Thomas Jefferson photo

“Widespread poverty and concentrated wealth cannot long endure side by side in a democracy”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Attributed to Jefferson in speeches by FDR http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/campaign-address/ and JFK, https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/pittsburgh-pa-19470603 but actually a quote about Jefferson by Charles A. Beard in 1936. https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/widespread-poverty-and-concentrated-wealth-spurious-quotation
Misattributed

Sima Qian photo

“There is no fixed road to wealth, and money has no permanent master.”

Records of the Grand Historian
Source: Translated by Burton Watson. Shiji 129: The Biographies of the Money-makers.

Cyrus the Great photo

“Whenever you can, act as a liberator. Freedom, dignity, wealth — these three together constitute the greatest happiness of humanity. If you bequeath all three to your people, their love for you will never die.”

Cyrus the Great (-600–-530 BC) King and founder of the Achaemenid Empire

Source: In Xenophon's Cyrus the Great: The Arts of Leadership and War https://books.google.com/books?id=w-WNO_TOgOQC&dq=Xenophon%27s%20Cyrus%20the%20Great%3A%20The%20Arts%20of%20Leadership%20and%20War&hl=fr&source=gbs_book_other_versions (2006) p. 116, also quoted in "9 Timeless Leadership Lessons from Cyrus the Great" http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanholiday/2012/04/19/9-timeless-leadership-lessons-from-cyrus-the-great/ at Forbes.com (19 April 2012)

“Great wealth breeds great arrogance.”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Source: The Margarets (2007), Chapter 14, “I Am Margaret/On Earth” (p. 115)

“If we just feed ourselves rather than importing foods, we will create jobs! We will create wealth!”

Kemi Adeosun (1967) Nigerian accountant, investment banker and politician (born 1967)

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNQTPE7gomU Kemi speaking on diversifying Nigeria's economy.

Tippu Tip photo

“Now I am Tipo Tipo,'that is,'the gatherer together of wealth.”

Tippu Tip (1837–1905) Swahili slave trader

Source: Five Years with the Congo Cannibals, Page 168, 169 https://archive.org/details/fiveyearswithco00wardgoog/page/n188/mode/2up Last Journals, page 188

Milan Stipić photo
Benjamin Franklin photo

“Our great security lies, I think, in our growing strength, both in numbers and wealth; ... unless, by a neglect of military discipline, we should lose all martial spirit ...; for there is much truth in the Italian saying, Make yourselves sheep, and the wolves will eat you.”

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

Letter to Thomas Cushing (1773) http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/franklin-the-works-of-benjamin-franklin-vol-vi-letters-and-misc-writings-1772-1775#lf1438-06_head_007.

Jay Samit photo

“Obstacles, not products, are the source of creating wealth.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

Jay Samit photo
Jay Samit photo

“Wealth that can last generations can now be attained in the shortest time ever in history.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

Edgar Guest photo
Edgar Guest photo
Nitin Pujari photo
Jordan Peterson photo

“Women are attracted to men's ability to generate, to be productive, and to share. These qualities transcend wealth, which can disappear.”

Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifi5KkXig3s "Biblical Series IV: Adam and Eve: Self-Consciousness, Evil, and Death"

Amartya Sen photo
Quentin Crisp photo
Bryan Stevenson photo

“I also believe that in many parts of this country, and certainly in many parts of this globe, that the opposite of poverty is not wealth. I don't believe that. I actually think, in too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.”

Bryan Stevenson (1959) American lawyer, social reformer and academic

We need to talk about an injustice https://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice|

Bryan Stevenson photo

“We have a system of justice in this country that treats you much better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes.”

Bryan Stevenson (1959) American lawyer, social reformer and academic

We need to talk about an injustice https://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice|

Wei Jingsheng photo

“Sometimes wealth and power merely created the desire for more of the same.”

Source: Behrooz Wolf (aka The Proteus Trilogy), Proteus In The Underworld (1995), Chapter 16 (p. 217)

John Adams photo

“Banks have done more injury to the religion, morality, tranquility, prosperity, and even wealth of the nation than they can have done or ever will do good.”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

John Adams letter to John Taylor, Of Caroline, Quincy, (12 March, 1819)
1810s, Letter to John Taylor (1819)

Edward Bellamy photo
Edward Bellamy photo
J.C. Ryle photo

“Wealth is no mark of God's favour. Poverty is no mark of God's displeasure.”

J.C. Ryle (1816–1900) Anglican bishop

Vol. II, Luke XVI: 19–31, p. 212
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. Luke (1858–1859)

Aristotle photo
Charles Mackay photo
Nas photo
Frank Herbert photo