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Wealth: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
There are, while human miseries abound, A thousand ways to waste superfluous wealth, Without one fool or flatterer at your board, Without one hour of sickness or disgust.— ARMSTRONG — Art of Preserving Health. Bk. II. L. 195.
I have mental joys and mental health, Mental friends and mental wealth, I've a wife that I love and that loves me; I've all but riches bodily.— WM. BLAKE — Mammon.
Since all the riches of this world May be gifts from the devil and earthly kings, I should suspect that I worshipped the devil If I thanked my God for worldly things.— WM. BLAKE — Riches.
Who hath not heard the rich complain Of surfeits, and corporeal pain? He barr'd from every use of wealth, Envies the ploughman's strength and health.— GAY — Fables. The Cookmaid, Turnspit,
and Ox. The ideal social state is not that in which each gets an equal amount of wealth, but in which each gets in proportion to his contribution to the general stock.— HENRY GEORGE — Social Problems. Ch. VI.
And to hie him home, at evening's close, To sweet repast, and calm repose. * * * * * * From toil he wins his spirits light, From busy day the peaceful night; Rich, from the very want of wealth, In heaven's best treasures, peace and health.— GRAY — Ode on the Pleasure Arising from Vicissitude. L. 87.
For wealth, without contentment, climbs a hill, To feel those tempests which fly over ditches.— HERBERT — The Church Porch. St. 19.
Base wealth preferring to eternal praise.— HOMER — Iliad. Bk. XXIII. L. 368.
Pope's trans.
Know from the bounteous heavens all riches flow; And what man gives, the gods by man bestow.— HOMER — Odyssey. Bk. XVIII. L. 26.
Pope's trans. These riches are possess'd, but not enjoy'd!— HOMER — Odyssey. Bk. IV. L. 118.
Pope's trans. Poor worms, they hiss at me, whilst I at home Can be contented to applaud myself, *** with joy To see how plump my bags are and my barns.— BEN JONSON — Every Man Out of His Humour. Act I. Sc. 1.
The rich man's son inherits cares; The bank may break, the factory burn, A breath may burst his bubble shares, And soft, white hands could hardly earn A living that would serve his turn.— LOWELL — The Heritage.
Infinite riches in a little room.— MARLOWE — The Jew of Malta. Act I. Sc. 1.
But wealth is a great means of refinement; and it is a security for gentleness, since it removes disturbing anxieties.— IK. MARVEL — Reveries of a Bachelor.
Over his Cigar. III. Let none admire That riches grow in hell; that soil may best Deserve the precious bane.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. I. L. 690.
Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace; If not, by any means get wealth and place.— POPE — Epistles of Horace. Ep. I. Bk. I. L. 103.
What riches give us let us then inquire: Meat, fire, and clothes. What more? Meat, clothes, and fire. Is this too little? S.— POPE — Moral Essays. Ep. III. L. 79.
Lack of desire is the greatest riches.— SENECA
All gold and silver rather turn to dirt! As 'tis no better reckon'd, but of those Who worship dirty gods.— Shakespeare — Cymbeline. Act III. Sc. 6. L. 54.
If thou art rich, thou art poor; For, like an ass whose back with ingots bows, Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey, And death unloads thee.— Shakespeare — Measure for Measure. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 25.
O what a world of vile ill-favour'd faults Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year!— Shakespeare — Merry Wives of Windsor. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 32.
Through life's dark road his sordid way he wends, An incarnation of fat dividends.— SPRAGUE — Curiosity. St. 25.
No, he was no such charlatan- Count de Hoboken Flash-in-the-Pan- Full of gasconade and bravado, But a regular, rich Don Rataplane, Santa Claus de la Muscavado, Senor Grandissimo Bastinado! His was the rental of half Havana And all Matanzas; and Santa Ana, Rich as he was, could hardly hold A candle to light the mines of gold Our Cuban owned.— E. C. STEDMAN — The Diamond Wedding. St. 7.
If Heaven had looked upon riches to be a valuable thing, it would not have given them to such a scoundrel.— SWIFT — Letter to Miss Vanhomrigh.
Aug. 12, 1720. He that is proud of riches is a fool. For if he be exalted above his neighbors because he hath more gold, how much inferior is he to a gold mine!— JEREMY TAYLOR — Holy Living. Of Humility. Ch. II. Sc. IV.
Can wealth give happiness? look round and see What gay distress! what splendid misery! Whatever fortunes lavishly can pour, The mind annihilates, and calls for more.— YOUNG — Love of Fame. Satire V. L. 394.
Much learning shows how little mortals know; Much wealth, how little worldlings can enjoy.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night VI. L. 519.