Quotes About Wealth

it is impossible to become a billionaire without bending the rules. Most of the members of that class run their operations and live their lives in ways that injure our communities. Most are trying to rig the system even further. These are not upstanding citizens. They are parasites and freeloaders—however they try to justify themselves. We do not owe them deference.

lavish coverage in the Boston Post gave Kennedy those three key elements of the Gilded Age business model: the appearance of wealth, a supply of other people's money to speculate with, and a dignified reputation.

So does the fact that corrupt officials the world over buy art, often anonymously, as a way to launder money. The uber-rich use it to dodge taxes. Warehouses in Geneva and New York are stacked with specially conditioned safes. There, great works are reduced to the equivalent of zeroes in anonymous bank accounts.

In my last year on Wall Street my bonus was $3.6 million," wrote Sam Polk in the New York Times, "and I was angry because it wasn't big enough. I was 30 years old, had no children to raise, no debts to pay, no philanthropic goal in mind. I wanted more money for exactly the same reason an alcoholic needs another drink: I was addicted." Polk

Brains and talent were sucked onto Wall Street, while other things that contribute to a country's greatness were starved of air. That's called an "opportunity cost," and it was huge.

Multiple experiments have demonstrated that—above a certain amount for comfort—more money does not make those who have it happier. Instead, it often leaves them feeling unfulfilled and ratchets up their stress.

Economic growth has become a mark of countries' virtue. And what goes for countries goes for people. It's not enough to have high net worth anymore. What matters is the rate of increase—that is, "ever growing wealth.

A Nigerian once answered a question about the social significance of money with an enigma: "People use money to intimidate people," he stated. I knew what he meant, but I made polite conversation: "Really? How?" "By giving it to them." That was not the answer I expected. I waited. "Then they can tell them what to do." Afghans said the same, I remembered: "When someone eats your food, he should obey you. You don't obey him.

over the 1982–84 period, taxes actually increased for all those making less than $30,000 a year….For those making over $200,000 a year, however, the Reagan cuts brought an average reduction of…15 percent." Thus was perpetrated, say two other analysts, "what may well have been the most accelerated upwards redistribution of income in the nation's history.

This race among the superrich—for zeroes in their bank accounts—means a race to transform items of inestimable value into cold, hard cash. The land, what's on and under the land—all that vibrant life—human effort and creativity, our friendships, our health and the "statistical value" of our very lives, all are being converted into money. We have even equated speech—that unique human gift—with money.

the history of the Gilded Age delivers one certainty, it is this: there is no way to access infinite wealth without rigging the system. No one becomes a billionaire honestly.

But leading lights of the Democratic Party and the businesses affiliated with them quickly embraced the new plutocratic ethos.

The recent alarming development and aggression of aggregated wealth, which, unless checked, will inevitably lead to the pauperization and hopeless degradation of the toiling masses, render it imperative, if we desire to enjoy the blessings of life, that a check should be placed upon its power and upon unjust accumulation

The symbol of the 'one per cent' that so dominates discussions of economic inequality today comes, like the American dream it accompanies, from a century ago. The difference is that a hundred years ago many people considered billionaires un-American.

The difference between old and new money is, after all, purely relative: it just depends on when you start counting.

The only time to move to New York City is when you're fresh out of college, unless you happen to be rich. If you're rich, you can move to New York whenever you want.

The only time to move to New York City is when you're fresh out of college, unless you happen to be rich. If you're rich, you can move to New York whenever you want.

I do not think money is the root of all evil, but I know it makes an effective fertilizer.

That boy may have been born on third base but he sure as shit ain't scored a triple.

Nor need we power or splendor, wide hall or lordly dome; The good, the true, the tender - these form the wealth of home.

I can look to Hanuman for energy, Varuna (the God of water) if I want rain, Lakshmi (Vishnu's consort, the goddess of wealth) if I need money and Saraswathi (Brahma's consort, the goddess of knowledge) ifI have an exam coming up. Ganesh the elephant god and the child of Shiva and Parvati) can be called on when starting a new journey or venture and Vishnu, Ram or Krishna if I want purity of spirit.

The duke's house was a three-story affair with gilded pillars and marble facing, and it was as ugly as a gator in a pink satin ball gown.

What is the happiest moment you can remember?" He didn't hesitate. "The day they delivered my Ferrari." "Fine! Tonight, you are going to look at me as if I'm your Ferrari." "Do I get to put your top down?

The contemporary art world is what Tom Wolfe would call a "statusphere." It's structured around nebulous and often contradictory hierarchies of fame, credibility, imagined historical importance, institutional affliction, perceived intelligence, wealth, and attribution such as the size of one's art collection.