“Fortune sides with him who dares.”
“Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity.”
“Those born to wealth, and who have the means of gratifying every wish, know not what is the real happiness of life, just as those who have been tossed on the stormy waters of the ocean on a few frail planks can alone realize the blessings of fair weather.”
“If you ve got a dollar and you spend 29 cents on a loaf of bread, you ve got 71 cents left; But if you ve got seventeen grand and you spend 29 cents on a loaf of bread, you ve still got seventeen grand. There s a math lesson for you.”
“In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life s prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly—only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!”
“That something so small could be so beautiful. Worth so much. Only the strongest people can turn away from feelings like that.”
“If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire.”
“I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.”
“Despite a voluminous and often fervent literature on income distribution, the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: It is earned.”
“Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it.”
“If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard. But if you are willing to do what’s hard, life will be easy.”
“Wealth, my son, should never be your goal in life. Your words are eloquent but they are mere words. True wealth is of the heart, not of the purse.”
“This is the thing: If you have the option to not think about or even consider history, whether you learned it right or not, or whether it even deserves consideration, that’s how you know you’re on board the ship that serves hors d’oeuvres and fluffs your pillows, while others are out at sea, swimming or drowning, or clinging to little inflatable rafts that they have to take turns keeping inflated, people short of breath, who’ve never even heard of the words hors d’oeuvres or fluff. Then someone from up on the yacht says, It s too bad those people down there are lazy, and not as smart and able as we are up here, we who have built these strong, large, stylish boats ourselves, we who float the seven seas like kings. And then someone else on board says something like, But your father gave you this yacht, and these are his servants who brought the hors d oeuvres. At which point that person gets tossed overboard by a group of hired thugs who d been hired by the father who owned the yacht, hired for the express purpose of removing any and all agitators on the yacht to keep them from making unnecessary waves, or even referencing the father or the yacht itself. Meanwhile, the man thrown overboard begs for his life, and the people on the small inflatable rafts can t get to him soon enough, or they don t even try, and the yacht s speed and weight cause an undertow. Then in whispers, while the agitator gets sucked under the yacht, private agreements are made, precautions are measured out, and everyone quietly agrees to keep on quietly agreeing to the implied rule of law and to not think about what just happened. Soon, the father, who put these things in place, is only spoken of in the form of lore, stories told to children at night, under the stars, at which point there are suddenly several fathers, noble, wise forefathers. And the boat sails on unfettered.”
“When you are able to shift your inner awareness to how you can serve others, and when you make this the central focus of your life, you will then be in a position to know true miracles in your progress toward prosperity.”
“This wise man observed that wealth is a tool of freedom. But the pursuit of wealth is the way to slavery.”
“Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.”
“I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, but it hasn t changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I m just wearing better shoes.”