Wealth
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3.The vanity and mortality of riches
3a.Wealth cannot ransom life or survive the owner
See also: Life and Death 2a
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 48Menelaus boasts of treasure gathered in wanderings but takes no joy in it, wishing he had a third and his friends alive.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 94The wicked shall not be rich nor his substance continue.read · scan
- p. 112Though he heap silver as dust, the just shall wear it and the innocent divide it.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 158Worldly men whose portion is this life are filled with treasure and leave substance to their children.read · scan
- p. 190–191He heaps up riches and knows not who will gather them.read · scan
- p. 201Trust in riches is folly: wealth cannot ransom a brother from death and is left to others.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 676Grain, gold, family and servants cannot follow a man in death; all is left behind.read · scan
- p. 714–715Gold, silver and livestock are subject to corruption, yet men are besotted with them.read · scan
Ecclesiastes; or, The PreacherVol. 44
- p. 336Great possessions, gold, servants and works bring no lasting profit under the sun.read · scan
- p. 341–342Riches given by God are worthless if one cannot enjoy them; an alien eats them.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 891–892The damned man laments that his wealth and authority availed him nothing.read · scan
- p. 958–959Unbelievers' wealth and children avail nothing against God; their spending is like a blast destroying a crop.read · scan
BeowulfVol. 49
- p. 79–80The dying king longs to see the hoard's jewels before laying down life and lordship.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 102Palace treasures, jewels and thrones remain untouched amid petrified inhabitants.read · scan
- p. 301–302Splendid palace and jeweled doors contrast with emptiness left by the dead.read · scan
- p. 302Avarice and hoarded dinars are useless; riches pass to another after death.read · scan
- p. 302Vast riches and horses failed to prevent destruction.read · scan
- p. 302–304Pits of gold and jewels cannot ransom life or extend it.read · scan
- p. 312Hoarded riches and refuge failed to save the dead from God's decree.read · scan
- p. 315–316Markets of silk, jewels and gold stand full but useless, owned by dead merchants who starved.read · scan
- p. 317Buildings and treasure did not save the dead when their term expired; hoarded riches fill the chambers.read · scan
- p. 320–321Wealth was sent out to buy food but none could be found; riches could not repel fate.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 205–206Perishing riches are vanity.read · scan
- p. 273–274The rich pass away like smoke, leaving no record of their joys.read · scan
- p. 333–334Woe to the rich who have consolation here; the poor and humble inherit the kingdom; no precious substance can deliver.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 89–90Worldly wisdom seeks riches for honor, yet an owner enjoys no more than one man's share, as Solomon says.read · scan
- p. 91–92Ecclesiastes: a man heaps up riches and cannot tell who will gather them, so labor is vanity.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 193–194Land-buyer's purchases and vouchers give him only the length of a pair of indentures in deathread · scan
Thomas Nashe, In Time of Pestilence; SpringVol. 40
- p. 260–261Rich men should not trust wealth; gold cannot buy health.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 821–823Princes' tombs show minds bent on the world.read · scan
Pierre Corneille, PolyeucteVol. 26
- p. 110–111Worldly wealth and thrones deceive; ambition ends in envy and hate.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 384–385Accumulated temporal goods cannot give a happiness lasting beyond this life.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 130His jewels have no worth in that country and cannot be sold for reliefread · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19
- p. 408He warns that possessions are cheating: property leaves its owners and silver and gold melt from their patterns.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 325–327Miser's gold cannot avail beyond death; Mammon fails in other worlds while the honest beggar goes to heaven.read · scan
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1334–1335Wealth could not bribe the pestilence; the poor with no friends die in the almshouse.read · scan
Edward FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám of NaishápúrVol. 41
- p. 945–947Hoarders and spendthrifts alike end in dust; worldly hope turns to ashes like snow on the desert.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 129Jewels and gold are perishable treasures that moth, rust and thieves destroy.read · scan
3b.The fickleness of fortune and sudden loss
See also: Friendship 6a
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 14–15The house was once rich and honourable; the suitors devour its substance.read · scan
- p. 238–239Odysseus's false tale: once rich with thralls, he is now made desolate and a beggar.read · scan
- p. 259–260Odysseus describes his fictive former riches and thralls, lost by Zeus's will, warning that the maid may lose her fine show.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9
- p. 16Riches serve only particular ends and are uncertain, less valuable than friendship.read · scan
Plutarch, ThemistoclesVol. 12
- p. 27Bounty on his head, his estate confiscated and smuggled after him.read · scan
Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12
- p. 144He loses much treasure to robbers in Bithynia.read · scan
Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12
- p. 379Cleopatra gathers treasure in her monument, and Caesar fears she will burn it.read · scan
- p. 382Caesar fears losing her great treasure.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 174His great wealth saves him from execution but is confiscated.read · scan
- p. 187–188After the patron dies the Sultan seizes his property; the penniless brother cannot ransom himself.read · scan
- p. 202–203Nur-ed-Din seeks capital to trade with; a prosperous man is compared to a tree people flock to only while it bears fruit.read · scan
- p. 278Sindbad, once a wealthy merchant, is now a poor stranger.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 28Goods in Fortune's hands are brief and vain; all the gold cannot buy rest for one soul.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 228–229Riches and worldly prosperity are uncertain and wearisome, never possessed without care and fear; a moderate portion suffices.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 192–194Cellini shrugs off the loss of a few hundred crowns while Busbacca's supposed thousands prove false.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 96The rich and mighty seem fortunate, but their riches and honor can be lost any moment.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 152Friends flee the fallen great man and flock to the wealthy; love tends on fortune.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46
- p. 252Fool's rhyme: fathers in rags have unkind children, fathers with bags kind ones; fortune shuns the poor.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 809Flatterers and servants desert decayed fortunes; men cease to build where the foundation sinks.read · scan
Thomas Jordan, Let Us Drink and Be MerryVol. 40
- p. 364–365Treasure is uncertain, so spend pounds, shillings and pence in frolics.read · scan
Molière, Tartuffe, or The HypocriteVol. 26
- p. 277–280Tartuffe claims the house through the deed of gift and turns Orgon's property against him.read · scan
- p. 284–287Mr. Loyal arrives to claim Orgon's goods on Tartuffe's behalf.read · scan
- p. 287–289Orgon loses house and goods to Tartuffe through a deed of gift and contract.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 94Antony likens his loss to a merchant waking to see his vessel sinking and wealth cast overboard.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19
- p. 347–348Neighbor is anxious about his money, chains and possessions when fleeing.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 21–22Fallen from prosperity, he can hardly earn life's support while the prosperous man sleeps.read · scan
- p. 35–37Wealth has gone; he turns soldier, while the cit with his purse is mocked.read · scan
- p. 488–491Highland wife, once rich in kye and yowes, now penniless in the Lowlands.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 474–475Agnese's hidden scudi bring anxiety; in war, those with money fare worse, exposed to violence and treachery.read · scan
- p. 619–620Goods and dwellings are cheap after the plague, letting Renzo furnish a home at moderate cost.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 145–146Her fall into poverty contrasts with the splendour of the royal wedding.read · scan
- p. 211–212Two-eyes rises from hunger to castle life; her sisters fall into beggary.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 447Scott's novels bought farms; the bankruptcy of Constable suddenly made the rich landowner penniless.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 308–309Earthquakes destroy a country's prosperity; hundreds ruined and England would be bankrupt.read · scan
- p. 309Universal destruction humbled no one more than another, sparing the grievous coldness of friends that follows loss of wealth.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23
- p. 394–395The Vallejos, once princely landowners, were nearly ruined by a failed contract to build public buildings for the Capital.read · scan
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