Quotes About Materialism

People are only mean when they're threatened, and that's what our culture does...And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture.

Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that's what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it-- and have it repeated to us-- over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all this, he has no perspective on what's really important anymore.

when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have.

People haven't found meaning in their lives, so they're running all the time looking for it. They think the next car, the next house, the next job. Then they find those things are empty, too, and they keep running.

These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship.

You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship.

The culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks-- we're so involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?

They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship. "Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I can tell you, as I'm sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have.

These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship. Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness

We put our values in the wrong things. And it leads to very disillusioned lives.

There's a big confusion in this country over what we want versus what we need," Morrie said.

Part of the problem, Mitch, is that everyone is in such a hurry," Morrie said. "People haven't found meaning in their lives, so they're running all the time looking for it. They think the next car, the next house, the next job. Then they find those things are empty, too, and they keep running.

neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have.

when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture.

Mitch, he said, the culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up in egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks - we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?

There's a big confusion in this country over what we want versus what we need," Morrie said. "You need food, you want a chocolate sundae. You have to be honest with yourself. You don't need the latest sports car, you don't need the biggest house. "The truth is, you don't get satisfaction from those things. You know what really gives you satisfaction?" What? "Offering others what you have to give." You

These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship.

la pérdida le había enseñado algo muy importante: afferrarse a lo material <>

la pérdida le había enseñado algo muy importante: aferrarse a lo material 'solo sirve para ser un desgraciado'.

we're deficient in some way. We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don't satisfy us.

There are many kinds of selfishness in this world, but the most selfish is hoarding

What profits a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?

When a baby comes into the world, its hands are clenched, right? Like this?" He made a fist. "Why? Because a baby, not knowing any better, wants to grab everything, to say, 'The whole world is mine.' "But when an old person dies, how does he do so? With his hands open. Why? Because he has learned the lesson." What lesson? I asked. He stretched open his empty fingers. "We can take nothing with us."   For

If you could pack for heaven, this was how you'd do it, touching everything, taking nothing.