“Perhaps indeed the possession of wealth is constantly distressing,
But I should be quite willing to assume every curse of wealth if I could at the same time assume every blessing.”
"The Terrible People"
Many Long Years Ago (1945)
Context: Perhaps indeed the possession of wealth is constantly distressing,
But I should be quite willing to assume every curse of wealth if I could at the same time assume every blessing.
The only incurable troubles of the rich are the troubles that money can't cure,
Which is a kind of trouble that is even more troublesome if you are poor.
Certainly there are lots of things in life that money won't buy, but it's very funny —
Have you ever tried to buy them without money?
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Ogden Nash 125
American poet 1902–1971Related quotes
“It is wrong to assume that men of immense wealth are always happy.”
Attributed as a statement to his Bible class (1 April 1905) in "The Loneliness of John D. Rockefeller", Current Literature (November 1906) vol. 41 no. 5,
“Of all thy blessings reckon wealth the least,
For 'tis the least secure of our possessions.”
Fabulae Incertae, Fragment 37.
"The Taste of the Age," The Saturday Evening Post (1958-07-26) [p. 290]
Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)
Riyadh-as-Saliheen by Imam Al-Nawawi, volume 3, hadith number 481
Sunni Hadith
Variant: Jabir reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Every right thing is sadaqa."
“Many first possess wealth, and are then possessed by it.”
Source: Rhythmen und Runen (1944), p. 253
“The lust of lucre has so totally seized upon mankind, that their wealth seems rather to possess them, than they to possess their wealth.”
Ea invasit homines habendi cupido, ut possideri magis quam possidere videantur.
Letter 30, 4.
Letters, Book IX
Part VII, The Margin Surplus, What Is Wealth?, p. 233.
Running Money (2004) First Edition
Letter to Abigail Adams (3 July 1776)
1770s
Context: I am surprised at the suddenness as well as the greatness of this revolution... It is the will of Heaven that the two countries should be sundered forever. It may be the will of Heaven that America shall suffer calamities still more wasting, and distresses yet more dreadful. If this is to be the case it will have this good effect at least. It will inspire us with many virtues which we have not, and correct many errors, follies, and vices which threaten to disturb, dishonor, and destroy us. The furnace of affliction produces refinement in states as well as individuals. And the new Governments we are assuming in every part will require a purification from our vices, and an augmentation of our virtues, or they will be no blessings. The people will have unbounded power, and the people are extremely addicted to corruption and venality, as well as the great. But I must submit all my hopes and fears to an overruling Providence, in which, unfashionable as the faith may be, I firmly believe.