Wealth
Outline · 2 ›
1.The nature of wealth and the question whether it is a good
1a.Wealth as the annual produce of land and labour, not money
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 296–297Rejoices that furniture and plate have spread from nobility to farmers and artificers, showing the country's growing wealth as God's gift.read · scan
- p. 334–335Plenty of poultry and meat on English tables is praised as a grace of God and liberty.read · scan
Sir Francis Drake, Sir Francis Drake RevivedVol. 33
- p. 167Necessity makes the Cimaroons value iron more than gold.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 85–87Riches are the baggage of virtue, impedimenta, with no real use except in distribution.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 5A nation's wealth is its produce per consumer; civilized nations are abundantly supplied while savage hunters remain miserably poor.read · scan
- p. 6Outlines books on capital stock, distribution of produce, and policies favouring town or country industry in the wealth of nations.read · scan
- p. 11Opulent nations excel in manufactures and agriculture, chiefly in the former.read · scan
- p. 11–12Rich and poor countries compared in cost of corn and manufactures, showing where opulence yields advantage.read · scan
- p. 16A frugal peasant's comfort compares with a prince's more than an African king's compares with the peasant's.read · scan
- p. 35Wealth gives power of purchasing command over labour, not necessarily political power, against Hobbes; value of goods equals that power.read · scan
- p. 223Price of commodities resolves into wages, profit and rent; real wealth lies in neat rent or revenue rather than gross.read · scan
- p. 224Real wealth of a society is proportional to neat revenue after maintaining fixed and circulating capital, not gross produce.read · scan
- p. 227–228A person's real riches consist in what money can purchase, not in the metal pieces themselves.read · scan
- p. 228Revenue consists in the power of purchasing consumable goods, not in gold or paper; a bill on a bankrupt is worthless.read · scan
- p. 233Money's real worth lies in what it buys; capital that employs industry comprises provisions, materials and finished work, with money deducted.read · scan
- p. 442Assesses the Physiocrats: wealth lies in consumable goods annually reproduced by labour, not in money, though they wrongly call manufacturing unproductive.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 264Uses national wealth, coinage and circulation as a standard for judging government; compares France's wealth unfavourably with England's.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 364–365Wealth is instantly created by human hands, yet rain can reduce hundreds to starvation.read · scan
- p. 386–387They respect an economy of agriculture, mines, manufacture and trade creating real values.read · scan
- p. 394Emerson tallies England's riches from commerce, steam power, ships, wheat and capital, concluding there is wealth to support the population idle for a year.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 146Success of Mill's Principles of Political Economy and defence of the study against its enemies.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 31Coffee and mandioca cultivation, abundant yields and profusion of food on the estate.read · scan
- p. 260Says inhabitants ought to be more prosperous given their agricultural advantages.read · scan
- p. 333–334Abundant fruit is cheap at Mendoza, and cultivation depends on irrigation.read · scan
- p. 426Food supply and stores raised on platforms secure the produce.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 95Ruskin's writings on political economy assume some virtue among motives, against the view that only acquisitiveness counts.read · scan
Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of GrassVol. 39
- p. 388–389Nation's riches in harvests, orchards and fisheries never fail while men beget children.read · scan
Hermann von Helmholtz, On the Conservation of ForceVol. 30
- p. 209Work is wealth; a perpetual motion machine would be as good as gold-making.read · scan
1b.Wealth as indifferent or morally neutral
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Old AgeVol. 9
- p. 48–49Neither the philosopher in poverty nor the fool with millions finds old age easy; wealth is not the whole answer.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 132–133Balbus says the friend will be rich: either well-supplied with money or, per the Stoic dictum, all who enjoy sky and earth are rich.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 120A man can lose only what he has; the lamp thief is answered with an earthenware lamp.read · scan
- p. 125–126Other men's occupations are calculating profit from food-stuffs and farm-plots.read · scan
- p. 126Lost riches and distinction are not real misfortune; what is gained instead is more precious.read · scan
- p. 140–141Land, slaves and public posts are nothing but fodder.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 226The many accept mockery of wealth as apt.read · scan
- p. 226–227Comic saying: he who has abundance has no place to ease himself; such things are not truly good.read · scan
- p. 231–232Losses in indifferent matters are no damage; the lost top is a child's toy.read · scan
- p. 258–259Receive prosperity without arrogance and be ready to let it go.read · scan
- p. 281Money is wrongly thought a good.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 201Riches cannot remedy the disasters of heaven; the goods of fortune have small virtue against misfortune.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15
- p. 329Wealth is seldom the portion of good people; God denies it to many enriched in knowledge and virtue; Donne faces want.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 168–169Hans trades his heavy lump of gold for a horse, showing naive indifference to money's value.read · scan
- p. 169–170Hans swaps the horse for a cow, seeing only its immediate usefulness.read · scan
- p. 170Hans trades the useless cow for a pig, judging value by his momentary appetite.read · scan
- p. 171–172Hans's chain of swaps down from a lump of gold to a goose is recounted while the grinder praises his trade's golden foundation.read · scan
- p. 172The grinder persuades Hans that a grindstone will make his fortune, and Hans hands over his goose for worthless stones.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Inaugural Address at EdinburghVol. 25
- p. 384Argues that a wise man finds little real difference between seventy pounds and millions a year for meat and clothes.read · scan
George Long, The Philosophy of AntoninusVol. 2
- p. 342Wealth and poverty happen indifferently to good and bad and are morally neither.read · scan
1c.True riches as contentment, virtue or spiritual treasure
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 6–7Better to be poor yet merry, rich yet courteous, than merely no flatterer or not proud.read · scan
- p. 42Ching wise in contentment as he grew richer; a populous state needs wealth first.read · scan
- p. 56Riches earn no lasting praise compared with virtue.read · scan
Aesop, FablesVol. 17
- p. 11The cock prefers a single barley-corn to a pearl, valuing useful goods over treasure that only others prize.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 105–106Lay treasure in the dust; the Almighty will be thy treasure and silver.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 186Better a little with righteousness than the abundance of many wicked; the wicked borrows and does not repay.read · scan
- p. 293–295Joy in the testimonies compared to all riches.read · scan
Sophocles, AntigoneVol. 8
- p. 292–293Heaped-up riches and sovereign state are worthless when joy is absent.read · scan
Aristophanes, The FrogsVol. 8
- p. 482Aeschylus says Athenians must know ships are their true wealth and that so-called wealth is delusion.read · scan
Plutarch, ThemistoclesVol. 12
- p. 20He scorns gold on the dead and prefers a man without riches to riches without a man for his daughter.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 152–153True riches are constancy and tranquillity, not gold and silver vessels; the rich have earthenware reason.read · scan
- p. 159Poverty and lack of possessions do not diminish contentment.read · scan
- p. 179The rich man is he who is content.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 309–310The sick man disregards wealth and is content with little.read · scan
Jean Froissart, The Chronicles of FroissartVol. 35
- p. 57Audley is unconcerned about lacking goods.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 238Having Christ, one is rich and has sufficient.read · scan
- p. 245–246He who finds Jesus finds the greatest treasure; he who lives without Him is poorest.read · scan
- p. 297The true riches to be bought are heavenly wisdom, which despises base things.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 134The recluse, once queen of the richest, says her poverty pleases her more than her riches ever did.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of FriendshipVol. 32
- p. 80–83The soldier would give up a prize horse, worth a kingdom, for a true friend.read · scan
Sir Edward Dyer, My Mind to Me a Kingdom IsVol. 40
- p. 207–209Those with much yet crave are poor; the speaker is rich with little.read · scan
William Shakespeare, Songs and SonnetsVol. 40
- p. 270–271Love's wealth outweighs the fortunes and kingdoms of others.read · scan
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-BleedingVol. 47
- p. 727Philaster says no treasure of kings, Tagus or Neptune's pearls can outweigh Bellario's virtue.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 801Bosola praises marrying for worth without shadows of wealth and painted honours.read · scan
Francis Quarles, An EcstasyVol. 40
- p. 341Would not exchange his beloved for all monarchs' lands; their wealth is but a counter.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15
- p. 388–389Woodnot judged large estates costly to keep and riches unable to cure discontent, so limited his desire of wealth.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 329–330He is rich who has enough to be charitable; a competence suffices, not Peru.read · scan
Pierre Corneille, PolyeucteVol. 26
- p. 90Pauline says poverty would have been wealth with Severus; love mocks kings' wealth.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 255Silver and gold are God's, not the means by which He wishes to be honoured.read · scan
- p. 266Jews objected that Christ gave no spoil or riches; Pascal desires no such Messiah.read · scan
- p. 277Each subject is rightly spoken of by the one who has it: the rich man of wealth, God of God.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 231–232Brisk asks what she earns; she seeks to be rich in good works rather than money.read · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 70Money is better spent on a child's mind than on estate or finery; a rich fortune with a poor mind is bad husbandry.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 343–344Wealth does not bring content; do good with what you have.read · scan
John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1
- p. 188Acting against profit from divine love opens a treasure better than silver.read · scan
John Collins, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 592–593Content with small means, envying no rich man's riches or fame.read · scan
Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to ConquerVol. 18
- p. 249–250Miss Hardcastle claims to have no fortune but her character, and that poverty is no misfortune to a contented mind.read · scan
Hector Macneil, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 576–577Lover argues gold cannot cure a sad heart; the wealthy laird wastes with care while the poor are cheerful.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 27–28Poet jokes about fine clothes despite having no inheritance, neither hoarding nor owing; health is his greatest wealth.read · scan
- p. 38–40Those who follow wealth and power seek bliss in vain; the cheerful honest clown is preferred to Potosi's riches.read · scan
- p. 67–68Riches and titles cannot buy peace; the poor toiler is no less blest than the idle rich.read · scan
- p. 278–280Lovers on the banks despise worlds with all their wealth as empty idle care.read · scan
- p. 451–453Wealth cannot buy contentment; love is the chiefest treasure; the cotter untroubled by wealth and state; poverty content.read · scan
- p. 457–459Though poor in gear, they are rich in love; merchant seeks gold, soldier glory.read · scan
- p. 469–472Lover spurns the world's wealth and grandeur for his beloved.read · scan
- p. 506–507Lovers care nothing for the joys gold can give; contentment with little.read · scan
- p. 532–534Riches and courtly pomp are set against true passion; jewels and grandeur delight the fancy but never reach the heart.read · scan
Robert Tannahill, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 593–594Even loftiest grandeur would bring only languishing without the beloved.read · scan
Leigh Hunt, On the Realities of ImaginationVol. 27
- p. 291He who enjoys a rich man's park with imagination is truly richer than its possessor.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 350–351Lessons on true riches and the vanity of worldly pleasures shaped his use of great wealth.read · scan
- p. 430–431Lucia urges the money be shared with Renzo; Agnese observes money pleases the needy but does not make a man rich.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 117She refuses the miller's comfort bought with wealth and prefers to rely on compassionate people.read · scan
- p. 126–127The parents say they would not sell him again for all the riches in the world.read · scan
- p. 173Hans loses even his stones and counts himself fortunate, valuing freedom from burdens over possessions.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, MannersVol. 5
- p. 217True riches are a generous heart able to succor the outcast; without it wealth is an ugly beggar.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, NatureVol. 5
- p. 225The rich man is he who knows nature's sweets; the great use gardens and parks, so the landed interest is strong.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 342–343The poor boy's little flower gave more joy than a queen's rich garden.read · scan
John Greenleaf Whittier, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1354–1355The barefoot boy has more in eye and ear than the million-dollared man can buy.read · scan
Charles Tennyson Turner, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 921Speaker prefers Ireland's plenty to boasted wealth and command.read · scan
Sir Samuel Ferguson, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 921–922Abundant stacks, butter and cream; wealth and command abroad are renounced for Ireland.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 93Contrasts the true treasures hidden in books with ordinary riches and royalty.read · scan
- p. 100–101No wealth will bribe entry to the company of great books.read · scan
Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of GrassVol. 39
- p. 398The most affluent man meets all he sees with the stronger wealth of himself.read · scan
- p. 401Poets dissolve poverty's need and riches' conceit; the true owner of a library is he who can read it.read · scan
James Thomson (B.V.), PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1149Rank and wealth are said to come with a horse and boat; a poor room can still be bright.read · scan
1d.Riches as power, honour and worldly standing
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 47–48Telemachus marvels at the gold, silver, amber and ivory of the palace, likening it to Zeus's court.read · scan
- p. 191–194The king shows Odysseus's treasure, enough for ten generations of his children.read · scan
Aeschylus, The FuriesVol. 8
- p. 158–160The blessing promises fruitful crops, teeming kine and prosperity for Athens.read · scan
- p. 160–162A blessing on Athens: no blight or famine, and double fruits and cattle.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 71Job's great flocks and household made him greatest of the east.read · scan
- p. 140–141God restores Job's flocks and herds twofold, and friends bring gifts of money and gold.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 325Full garners, thousands of sheep and laden oxen as the picture of prosperity.read · scan
Sophocles, Oedipus the KingVol. 8
- p. 218Oedipus laments the envy that dogs wealth, sovereignty and skill, suspecting Creon plotted, hiring a seer for pay.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 42Three embalming methods at differing prices, chosen by the bereaved by cost.read · scan
- p. 42The embalming method chosen depends on means: costly, middle, or cheapest.read · scan
- p. 67Her earnings as a courtesan could not have paid for such a pyramid; she dedicated a tithe at Delphi.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 637–638Ananda urges that the Buddha die in a great city where wealthy believers can perform the funeral rites.read · scan
- p. 755–756King Pasenadi envies Bimbisara's five men of illimitable wealth and demands one for his own kingdom.read · scan
- p. 759–760Migara's four hundred millions are called a farthing beside Dhananjaya's riches; he offers to host kings.read · scan
- p. 762The parure is worth ninety millions, plus a hundred thousand for workmanship.read · scan
Ecclesiastes; or, The PreacherVol. 44
- p. 342–343Wisdom is as good as an inheritance and a defence like money.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9
- p. 26–27The rich and virtuous need friends least and give most; advantage follows friendship, not the reverse.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Old AgeVol. 9
- p. 47–48Laelius suggests Cato's wealth and position make old age tolerable.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 340Camers is noted as surpassing all Latians in wealth and living in quiet ease.read · scan
Plutarch, DemosthenesVol. 12
- p. 191Arts aimed at riches or honor wither in poor towns, unlike virtue.read · scan
Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33
- p. 117Great veneration is paid to wealth among the Suiones, leading to single rule.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 12Learning valued for serving deceitful riches and worldly success.read · scan
- p. 93He weighs a lucrative station and a wealthy wife as a compromise with worldly hopes.read · scan
- p. 103–105Firminus grew in riches and honours, contrasted with the slave's lot.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 58The ladies demand a contribution; friendship without money is not worth a grain.read · scan
- p. 98Closets of jewels lead him to boast he is richer than any king.read · scan
- p. 123–125She is a rich Emir's daughter with great property.read · scan
- p. 125–126The lavish house displays the lady's opulence.read · scan
- p. 345–346Boy is tempted by becoming a merchant, well dressed and fed and of repute, with shop and rich stuffs supplied.read · scan
- p. 356He shows the jewels, worth more than any king's, but still believes them glass.read · scan
- p. 384The Lamp's Jinni instantly supplies forty gold bowls of jewels, maidens and slaves for the dowry.read · scan
- p. 384The procession of damsels and jewel-filled bowls dazzles the city and the officers of the court.read · scan
- p. 387The princess admires the jewels as matchless.read · scan
- p. 388The Jinni supplies a royal bath, robes, memluks, a jewelled stallion and thousands of dinars, so the tailor's son appears a prince.read · scan
- p. 391–392The lamp's Slave builds a palace overnight filled with treasuries of gold, jewels and royal goods beyond any sovereign's means.read · scan
- p. 392–393The Sultan marvels at riches and a dowry of jewels no king possesses; the palace appears overnight.read · scan
- p. 397The Sultan is confounded by the palace's splendour, beyond any king's wealth.read · scan
- p. 399The Sultan empties his treasuries and the wezirs' jewels, yet cannot finish the bay; Ala-ed-Din's wealth exceeds kings'.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20
- p. 329–330One sought wealth through civil business among the vain pursuits of men.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 143–145She claims to be disinherited, once the richest woman in the world, to gain Percivale's pity.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 76Enriching and honouring a minister diverts him from seeking gain elsewhere.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 236Pride prizes riches as contrast to others' poverty.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 78The Pope secretly salvages the great jewels and gold of the Apostolic Camera; a low-born servant has been made rich.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 87Marcela's riches and beauty draw suitors, but her uncle disregards profit from her goods.read · scan
- p. 499The farmer's reputation was won by virtue rather than riches, though wealth and esteem usually go together; riches attract wooers.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor FaustusVol. 19
- p. 219Tempted by wealth and lordship, he anticipates riches from Mephistophilis.read · scan
Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old DebtsVol. 47
- p. 883–884Sudden reversal: the beggar Wellborn is now honoured with dinner and choice of sauces, astonishing Marrall.read · scan
- p. 920Wellborn marvels how a little trash and rich clothes change how men treat him.read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34
- p. 362–363Riches joined with liberality are power because they win friends and servants; without liberality they invite envy.read · scan
- p. 365–366Riches are honourable because they are power; poverty is dishonourable.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise RegainedVol. 4
- p. 371Satan urges riches bring honour, friends and realms; Jesus replies wealth without virtue cannot win or keep dominionread · scan
- p. 371Riches are needless for gaining a sceptreread · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 58Fortune is among the goods whose lack is said to make men unhappy.read · scan
- p. 110Finery shows how many people work for one and hence one's power.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 101–102By-ends of Fair-speech boasts of wealthy town and rich kindred.read · scan
- p. 306–307Worldly promises of greatness and happiness through body and purse.read · scan
- p. 307–308Madam Bubble fingers her purse, praises the rich, scorns poor pilgrims and casts gold like dust to allure men.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 223Riches are where inequalities terminate, since they purchase every other distinction; the rich are happy only while others want.read · scan
- p. 226Fawning on rich men he despises, valuing their protection.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24
- p. 384–385Money is for animal life and cannot reward services that inspire; services and money are incommensurable quantities.read · scan
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Minna von Barnhelm, or The Soldier's FortuneVol. 26
- p. 302–304The landlord's manner changes when he learns of the Major's sealed purse; civility follows ready money.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 101–104The he-monkey thinks plenty of pelf would make him wise.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 331–332Power, wealth and show are the gods men adore, poverty their hell.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 387Gertrude lists barns, cattle and fine house as prosperity that Stauffacher's fear undermines.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 426–427Agnese counts and hides the hundred scudi, dreams of them and builds castles in the air; Lucia hopes the money lets them do good.read · scan
- p. 427–428Agnese sees the money as the means to leave the country and rejoin the family, replacing Renzo's savings lost to justice.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 137–138Riches are among the fairy gifts to the baby.read · scan
- p. 182–184The plaster's other end turns iron into silver, promised as riches.read · scan
- p. 185–187The Devil's coat has a pocket always full of money, which buys shelter and overcomes the innkeeper's refusal.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 418Scott is rich in money and repute at his middle period.read · scan
- p. 419Fame is set beside money as a gaudy emblazonry useful chiefly if it turns to money.read · scan
- p. 426Fortune poured wealth, honour and worldly goods upon Scott.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CompensationVol. 5
- p. 85–86Preacher's compensation imagined as bank-stock and luxuries, a base estimate of success.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, NatureVol. 5
- p. 225The poor imagine riches romantically; the rich are rich for the sake of the young poet's imagination, while their actual possessions fall short.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 398–399English wealth gives the private gentleman power, comfort and access to science; its cause is the people's fertile temperament.read · scan
- p. 415The rich Englishman now draws more advantages than the strongest of his kings.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 232–233She reminds the ladies she gives them food and wages to compel obedience.read · scan
- p. 265–266The princes' luxuries, such as diamond pencils and golden slates, mark their privilege before it is lost.read · scan
- p. 321–322The Shadow returns rich, with seals, gold chain and diamonds, offering to buy his freedom from service.read · scan
- p. 323The Shadow's clothes, coin struck for it, and fine position mark its rise from professors' and tailors' favor.read · scan
- p. 323–325The Shadow, grown fat and rich, offers to pay travelling expenses, putting the scholar in its dependence.read · scan
- p. 352–353The Tinder-box summons dogs who bring money, restoring his fine rooms and friends.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 51Rich landowner has great herds yet a miserable house and poor fare, rude wealth.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1026–1027The new-made lord's coal-mine fortune buys title, castle and commission; 'what is it he cannot buy?'read · scan
Edgar Allan Poe, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1224–1225Accusation that mourners loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 76Rich-looking men are often penniless and starving; dress misrepresents wealth.read · scan
- p. 280Sailors call any man rich who does not work with his hands.read · scan
Henry David Thoreau, WalkingVol. 28
- p. 396–397No wealth can buy the leisure and independence required for walking.read · scan
1e.Wealth as a snare, a trial or a cause of pride and ruin
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 21–22Excess of bliss and treasure breeds impiety; wealth is no tower against the gulf.read · scan
- p. 34–35Chorus denies that bliss or wealth itself brings ill, though old saying says prosperity breeds curses.read · scan
- p. 36Right turns from gilded halls and falsely praised wealth to poorer holier temples.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 206–207The wicked man trusted in the abundance of his riches rather than in God.read · scan
The Bhagavad-Gita; or, Song CelestialVol. 45
- p. 861–863The demonic buy wealth with base deeds, drunk with riches and pride, boasting of fortune and lineage.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9
- p. 27–28Wealth and power blind men and destroy friendships; friends are the most valuable furniture of life, unlike possessions.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 374Cares and riches and pleasures choke the word so it bears no fruit.read · scan
- p. 393Excuses of field and oxen show preoccupation with possessions.read · scan
Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12
- p. 108–109Fortune's goods, wealth and station, threaten to corrupt him and make him deaf to advisers.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 879Man grows outrageous on seeing himself get rich.read · scan
- p. 879–880The proud man was given wealth and sons by God yet is hostile to His signs.read · scan
- p. 911–912Earlier generations better off in property were destroyed; the disbeliever's boast of wealth and children is rebuked.read · scan
- p. 944–945Wealth and children are but a temptation, with God the mighty reward.read · scan
- p. 945–946Misbelievers spend wealth to turn people from God's path, to their own sighing and defeat.read · scan
BeowulfVol. 49
- p. 50The prosperous man waxes in wealth and feels secure from harm, until pride wakes.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 351The boy is dazzled by the promise of becoming richer than kings.read · scan
- p. 402–403He resents that Ala-ed-Din has acquired immense wealth without effort.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 296–297Possessors of riches are enslaved.read · scan
Amerigo Vespucci, Amerigo Vespucci's Account of His First VoyageVol. 43
- p. 28Trade and riches are judged frail, transitory and costly in toil and anxiety, so he seeks something more stable and praiseworthy.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 191–192He counts his life above the saddle-bags holding his money and valuables, telling the man to let the horse go.read · scan
Thomas Dekker, Country Glee; Cold's the Wind; O Sweet ContentVol. 40
- p. 317–319Riches bring vexation and tears; fools strive to add to golden numbers.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 153The rich and kings are carnal, having the body as object.read · scan
- p. 311–312Living in high office and wealth without acquiring attachment to them is very difficult according to God.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 110–111Treasure is a snare that hinders pilgrims; Demas invites them to the silver mine and Christian refuses.read · scan
- p. 139–140Hopeful delighted in the treasures and riches of the world, which lead to perdition.read · scan
- p. 241–242Labouring men have got good estates in the valley; fullness is a burden to pilgrims.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 342–343Little wisdom or goodness is found among the rich in proportion to their wealth.read · scan
William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 393Wealth and greatness are trials of wisdom, bounty and gratitude from Heaven.read · scan
John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1
- p. 209–210Love of outward gain leads to vain shadow; treasures become snares to children.read · scan
- p. 218Prosperity and merchandise turn minds to this world, and a carnal mind gains on the Friends.read · scan
- p. 232–233Riches held by children who do not serve God prove snares of selfishness.read · scan
- p. 272John Smith says Quaker increase in riches brought fine clothes, watches and pride, and lost humility and spiritual life.read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of MoralsVol. 32
- p. 305Power, riches and honour breed pride and presumption without a good will.read · scan
- p. 328Willing riches may bring anxiety, envy and snares.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 118–119Mephistopheles plants a casket of jewels as bait to corrupt Margaret; wealth as temptation.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 60–63Rich and great are not truly blest; the wealthy fear death while the poor welcome it.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 325–327Luxurious fashionable life of the prosperous is more hostile to love of truth than the hardships of the poor.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 84–85Cottage with furniture and garden is wealth, but she deems it too small.read · scan
- p. 85–86Castle with gold furniture, servants and park shows lavish riches.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Inaugural Address at EdinburghVol. 25
- p. 374Scotland is flooded with money yet few know how to use it well; wealth can be a curse without good purpose.read · scan
- p. 374–376Riches in endowment do not guarantee achievement; the poor Heyne's only endowment was peasecods.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Man the ReformerVol. 5
- p. 48–50The rich man becomes menial of his riches, forgetting their use to serve love, friendship, worship, knowledge and country.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CompensationVol. 5
- p. 87–88Excess riches swell the estate but kill the owner; nature hates monopolies and levels the rich.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 233–235Christians profess that the poor are blessed and riches bar heaven, yet live by worldly interests.read · scan
Thomas Henry Huxley, Science and CultureVol. 28
- p. 221–222Prosperity is worthless if wealth serves unworthy desires and debases the workers.read · scan
Outline · 2 ›