Wealth
‹ 13 · Outline
14.Inequality, class and the justice of the distribution of wealth
14a.The injustice of unequal fortunes
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 54–55Unequal shares, not poverty or few men, cause unrest; had each his share there would be no poverty.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 108The poor toil, naked and hungry, making oil and wine for the rich.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 232The wicked grow fat and increase in riches while at ease, provoking the psalmist's envy.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 672–673The poor are jailed or beaten for trifles while the rich escape, used as analogy for unequal outcomes of deeds.read · scan
- p. 673–674A rich robber, king or minister is spared and even begged by the victim, whereas the poor are punished.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 424–425Contrast of rich merchant Kasim and poor woodcutter Ali Baba, who sees the robbers' treasure-laden bags.read · scan
Jean Froissart, The Chronicles of FroissartVol. 35
- p. 62Envy of the rich and noble motivates the rising.read · scan
- p. 69Rebels rob Lombards' houses and a rich merchant, and demand the chancellor account for levied money.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 236Rich idlers live well while the poor barely subsist; the rich also take from the poor by law.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46
- p. 293Gold plates sins; the poor are punished while rich offenders escape.read · scan
John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That AspersionVol. 43
- p. 92–93Same fine falls unequally on rich and poor.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at Horton, 1632-1638Vol. 4
- p. 62–66She argues that if the few did not heap vast excess, every just man in want would have a fair share.read · scan
Alexander Pope, Solitude; On a Certain Lady at Court; Essay on ManVol. 40
- p. 428–430Inequality of riches and wisdom does not make some men happier; mutual wants increase happiness.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 172Rich suffer from overrich food, the poor from unwholesome food and want, showing inequality's effect on health.read · scan
- p. 213Strong and weak better read as rich and poor; rich had more to lose and to guard.read · scan
- p. 222Right of property established the distinction of rich and poor.read · scan
- p. 228Establishment of property entrenches inequality; superfluity for few, want for the many.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Profession of Faith of a Savoyard VicarVol. 34
- p. 236–237The poor groan under the rich, and the rich under their own idle habits.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24
- p. 397–398French faction inquires into the fortunes of those holding wealth without merit.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 65–66Poet resents unequal sharing: the worthy go wanting while fools squander thousands; the great live snug in pride.read · scan
- p. 365–367Necessity presses on men; asks why one man fares better when all are brothers.read · scan
- p. 377–379Gentlemen have wealth and ease while simple folk toil, but drink makes every man a lord.read · scan
- p. 430–432Elegy asks why worth and genius pine in want while titled knaves shine in fortune's splendour.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 347Criticizes men of property who find natural necessity in an order that gives them all advantages and the poor all burdens.read · scan
- p. 362Questions whether a country's growing riches benefit all; England is rich yet its agricultural and manufacturing classes are degraded.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of PoetryVol. 27
- p. 350–351Political economists' calculation exasperates luxury and want; the rich grow richer, the poor poorer.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, CharacteristicsVol. 25
- p. 335–336Wealth accumulated in masses, separated from poverty like opposite poles; man conquers nature yet reaps no profit, remaining unserved.read · scan
- p. 352Economic distress arises from new wealth the old coffers cannot hold.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 141–143Private property and inheritance once seemed final; now the injustice of some born rich, most poor is condemned.read · scan
Giuseppe Mazzini, Byron and GoetheVol. 32
- p. 380Free competition organized the oppression of labor by capital and of poverty by wealth.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 262Notes the rage for gold mining and great inequality of riches among Chilean landowners.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, DemocracyVol. 28
- p. 468Discusses inequalities of fortune, Henry George's land-division proposal, and correcting influences that enlarge inequality.read · scan
William Morris, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1197Contrasts the rich man's terror with the poor's slow hope; poor died in squalid toil.read · scan
14b.Remedies: relief, reform, socialism and equalization
See also: Charity 7c
Plutarch, PericlesVol. 12
- p. 47Settlements restore the fortunes of poor townsmen.read · scan
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36
- p. 313–314Poor should be decently provided for, not endowed with convents; the rich should earn wealth from the earth themselves.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 39–40Remedy poverty by trade, manufacture, husbandry, sumptuary laws; keep treasure spread, not gathered into few hands by usury and engrossing.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46
- p. 281–283Gloucester argues that distribution should undo excess so each man has enough; the lust-dieted man should feel power.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 328Poverty and excess are a reproach; national superfluities taxed would provide almshouses and schools.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 139Poor relief is placed on each parish, so the poor's maintenance becomes a parochial charge.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 350Sacrifice wealth rather than mind; enlightenment increases productivity, and happiness depends more on distribution than amount of wealth.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 461Plan to feed and maintain the mendicants at public expense.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Man the ReformerVol. 5
- p. 56–57The state must consider the poor; the rich should concede in property laws and no one take more than his share.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, New England ReformersVol. 5
- p. 259Associations promise to make every member rich on the property that would leave separate families poor.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 79Debate between political economists and Owenites over population and Owen's system.read · scan
- p. 105Mill finds the old political economy's assumption of private property and inheritance limited; St. Simonian scheme manages society's labour and capital communally.read · scan
- p. 107–108Owenite and St. Simonian anti-property doctrines are welcomed as warnings to the higher classes, not as true.read · scan
- p. 111–113Socialism is seen as a means to improve material condition through limiting numbers.read · scan
- p. 146Mill's Political Economy and his Irish peasant-proprietor proposal during famine, rejected in favor of a Poor Law.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 124Poverty and pauperism treated as a matter of national charity and responsibility.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, DemocracyVol. 28
- p. 468–470Political economy must include human nature; labor should get a larger share of the wealth it helps produce, while state socialism would destroy self-help.read · scan
14c.Wealth and social rank or esteem
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 754–755Visakha's family of treasurers is of great wealth and rank, with slaves and attendants.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 188Regulus is hard to destroy because he is rich, leads a party and is feared by many.read · scan
- p. 200–201Pliny admits wealth deserves regard in marriage, since Roman manners and laws rank a man by his possessions.read · scan
- p. 357Romanus's estate, his mother's gift of four hundred thousand sesterces and family wealth add lustre.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 366–367Even poor peers would ask whether he has trade, land or garden to live on.read · scan
- p. 368The dazzling bowl of jewels is offered as a gift to win royal favour; the mother worries about being asked her son's income.read · scan
- p. 373–374The jewels' value makes the giver worthy of the princess in the Sultan's eyes.read · scan
- p. 386The Sultan is astounded by the jewels; the Wezir belittles the dowry.read · scan
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales; The Nun's Priest's TaleVol. 40
- p. 20–21The guildsmen have property and income enough to seek civic rank, and their wives expect display and honour.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 239–241More objects that community of goods without money would destroy nobility, magnificence, honor and majesty, the accepted ornaments of a commonwealth.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 218–219A baron must have a thousand pounds yearly revenue to maintain his rank; excessive decay costs a seat in parliament.read · scan
- p. 222Gentility is purchased from heralds for money, and gentlemen bear taxes like yeomen.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 434Disparity of rank and riches makes her doubt she would be thought worthy.read · scan
Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old DebtsVol. 47
- p. 886–888Lady says whoever she thinks worthy to sit at her table, however mean, is not the servant's companion.read · scan
- p. 896–898Overreach says his wealth shall weigh down Lovell's titles.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 310Fortunes gild the follies of the rabble among gentry; corruption lets everyone heap up riches.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 112Distinguishing men by birth or wealth is defended as reasonable.read · scan
- p. 116Honour paid to noble birth and rank is shown as a popular delusion, judged differently at each level of understanding; touches social distinction rather than money directly.read · scan
- p. 116–117Cites Saint Thomas on the command to give place to the rich: outward deference to wealth is owed as obedience to God, not as respect.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 93The merchant who enriches his country is more useful than the servile powdered lord.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 39–40Class and money determine berths; Hamilton is recalled by a great fee.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 165–166Political inequality consists in privileges such as being richer, more honoured and more powerful.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 272Argues wealth in reason and good policy should bestow rank and estimation, which the French nobility denied wealthy commoners.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 341–343Wealth alone gives no ground for a higher class; inequality of riches is natural and necessary.read · scan
- p. 343–344Prosperity is not superiority; wealth should secure no consideration, only distinctions of soul, integrity and intellect count.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 178The poor 'have no master' and so are without protection or influence against the powerful.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Man the ReformerVol. 5
- p. 54Rich landowner should not feel rich in my presence; Americans rely on the power of a dollar.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, MannersVol. 5
- p. 202–203Fortune is popularly thought necessary to the gentleman, but wide affinity, not money, is essential; Socrates chose poverty.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 392England pays absolute homage to wealth; poverty is infamous and a crime, as Nelson and Sydney Smith said.read · scan
- p. 393English respect for wealth, solvency and thrift; poverty a disgrace; every enterprise must pay and the nation grows rich.read · scan
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, What Is a Classic?Vol. 32
- p. 121Romans called citizens of the chief class classici by fixed income; the term was then applied figuratively to writers of worth.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 293–294He feels unequal to her castle, since he has only a crowded box.read · scan
- p. 329–330Contrast of poverty and rich shoes; poor girl's clumsy red cloth shoes versus the princess's morocco ones.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 48Essay denied that the rich are morally superior to the poor.read · scan
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 924Rank and social disparity between the queenly-court poet and the poor, desolate singer; death levels them.read · scan
‹ 13 · Outline