Quotes About Materialism

We lost our way and allowed greed and excess to become the twin pillars of too much of the financial culture. We became a society utterly absorbed in consumption and dismissive of moderation.

For the naysayers that claimed 'American Family' revealed us to be vacant, unloving, uncaring morons of the materialistic '70s, this image will be proven wrong when Mom and Dad remarry... Make no mistake. This is not to emphasize the sadness of my demise but rather emphasize the love of my family and friends.

Now I'm having to live with sales of around 50,000 per album - but I'm pretty content with my place in the general scheme of things, even if it's meant I don't drive a fancy car and can't afford grand vacations.

My environment is important to me. I'd rather give up other things in my life - I might not take vacations or spend a lot of money on clothes - so that I can live in a home I feel really good about.

There are many people in the world who feel that if only they had a bigger car, a nicer house, better vacations, a more understanding boss, or a more interesting partner, then their life would work. We all go through that one. Slowly we wear out most of our 'if onlies.'

We've got ourselves into a very vain state of society and there's more important things.

Valentine's day has been reduced to a marketing gimmick. Buying diamonds for your beloved has no appeal for me.

I think the materialist conception of history is valid.

It's so easy today to get swept up in celebrity fixation and materialism and searching for some validation outside of yourself when we know it's really found within and through meaningful connections with other people.

Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.

Too many people today know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Those who make their dress a principal part of themselves, will, in general, become of no more value than their dress.

The vanity of loving fine clothes and new fashion, and placing value on ourselves by them is one of the most childish pieces of folly.

When we think about the trends that millennials are taking toward simplicity, I think it's indicative of a cultural shift toward less of the 'more is more' for materialism sake and more of an emphasis on efficiency, value, and sustainability.

There are some people, who place enormous value on their home and feel that it defines them, that a stain on the carpet is a personal defilement. There are others, and I think I am one of them, who are entirely indifferent to where they live.

I am a man who has made a great deal of money, and I haven't got a great deal. This is because I give it no value, and a certain Christian precept is something to be lived by, and so forth.

No one wants growth, constant expansion, physical swelling. Growth is not a human value; it's a means to the ends of sufficiency and security. Once we have enough, no one wants more, unless it is sold to us as a cheap substitute for something else, something non-material.

I've never valued material things. I've always been more attached to people. The pursuit of material things takes time, and I realized my time is very valuable especially during the season. My time with my kids, what I do to take care of my body, and of course any intellectual pursuits I may have on the side. Those are all things that I value.

He greatly valued his possessions, chiefly because they were his, and derived genuine pleasure from contemplating a painting, a statuette, a rare lace curtain - no matter what - after he had bought it and placed it among his household gods.

Money is always transitively valued. More money is supposedly always better than less money.

It's important to understand your ownership pattern because it is an expression of the values that guide your life. The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.

Somehow, we have come to the erroneous belief that we are all but flesh, blood, and bones, and that's all. So we direct our values to material things.

In the past there were people who were not rich but contented with their living style, laughing and happy all day. But when the new rich people appear, people look at them and ask, 'why don't I have a life like that too, a beautiful house, car and garden,' and they abandon their values.

We are beginning to see that money, after all, is not the main thing. The real values cannot be bought and sold.