Quotes About Materialism

This is the way modern men do battle, not with spear and sword, but with credit cards. My platinum beats your gold. Poor Elliot with his unisex Minolta is left in the dust

People like money even more than they do looks.

Is there a wisdom in objects? Few objects praise the Lord.

Money money money Water water water

Being rich is an obstacle to loving. When you are rich, you want to continue to be rich, and so you end up devoting all your time, all your energy, in your daily life to stay rich.

Happiness does not come from consumption of things.

Everyone wants to be happy, and there is a strong energy in us pushing us toward what we think will make us happy. But we may suffer a lot because of this. We need the insight that position, revenge, wealth, fame, or possessions are, more often than not, obstacles to our happiness. We need to cultivate the wish to be free of these things so we can enjoy the wonders of life that are always available — the blue sky, the trees, our beautiful children.

The development of Japanese economy has made Japan into a Western-like nation, in which many of the spiritual values have given place to materialism. The temples and monasteries must also participate in the present economic way of life and be based upon the present social needs of producing and consuming in order to exist. They can no longer play their role of spiritual leadership, as in the past. Zen is threatened on the very ground on which it was born and developed.

The Buddha and his monks and nuns practiced voluntary poverty. They owned only three robes, one bowl, and one water filter. Are we able to live simply, content with just what we need? Or are our religious institutions simply building and acquiring more and more?

The world at large does not judge us by who we are and what we know; it judges us by what we have.

We think that the more we have, the happier we will be. We never know what tomorrow might bring, so we collect and save as much as we can. This means we need a lot of money, so we gradually start judging people by how much money they have.

I always tried to live my life as though nothing changed. People would say, 'You can have a Rolls-Royce'. I'd say to that, 'What do I want with a Rolls-Royce when I can have a Volkswagen or a bike?' Some people get carried away with the juice.

I'm caught up probably just as much in the consumer culture as the next person.

Sometimes I can't stop myself from buying things just because I see them - even when I don't really need them.

In the back of your mind, when you say you want to write music for the movies, you're saying that you want a big house, a big car and a boat. If you just wanted to write music, you could live in Kansas and do it.

I like cars and houses. I have three houses - in Atlanta, in Kansas City and Houston.

The money never mattered. I'm not kidding you. It hasn't really brought me any kind of happiness.

It's great for people to give out of the kindness of their hearts, but because we're in a consumerist society, it's also great to have the opportunity to give and get.

I don't think I am that materialistic, actually. Obviously at home in the country the art collection is important, but we have one big room in the middle of the house where we do everything - the television, the kitchen, everything.

You can't just buy things for the label - it's ridiculous.

Don't identify yourself with labels and brands and have to buy every cute thing you see. Invest in the things that will grow in equity.

we steal with our eyes closed to the conditions in which the poor, who make our affluence possible, live. We covet what our neighbours have and want more of the same.

To make a forty-inch fur coat it takes between thirty and two hundred chinchilla, or sixty mink, fifty sables, fifty muskrats, forty-five opossums, forty raccoons, thirty-five rabbits, twenty foxes, twenty otters, eighteen lynx, sixteen coyotes, fifteen beavers, or eight seals.

Progress makes purses out of human skin.