Affluence Quotes - Page 3

• Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often both driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Envy, Want

  Adam Smith (1809). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.95

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• From the fact of general well-being came the new position of the poor. They were now in most communities a minority. The voice of the people was now the voice of relative affluence. Politicians in pursuit of votes could be expected to have a diminishing concern for the very poor. Compassion would have to serve instead - an uncertain substitute.

  John Kenneth Galbraith

  Compassion, Voice, People

  John Kenneth Galbraith (1981). “A life in our times: memoirs”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• The green revolution has an entirely different meaning to most people in the affluent nations of the privileged world than to those in the developing nations of the forgotten world.

  Norman Borlaug

  Agriculture, People, Different

  Norman Ernest Borlaug (1971). “Mankind and Civilization at Another Crossroad”

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• I am unpersuaded that relative poverty and hard work are greater adversities than relative affluence and free time.

  Dallin H. Oaks

  Hard Work, Adversity, Poverty

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• Consider the cost when Christians ignore Jesus commands to sell their possessions and give to the poor and instead choose to spend their resources on better comforts, larger homes, nicer cars, and more stuff.  Consider the cost when these Christians gather in churches and choose to spend millions of dollars on nice buildings to drive up to, cushioned chairs to sit in, and endless programs to enjoy for themselves.  Consider the cost for the starving multitudes who sit outside the gate of contemporary Christian affluence.

  David Platt

  Christian, Jesus, Nice

  David Platt (2010). “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream”, p.20, Multnomah

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• Unfortunately, our affluent society has also been an effluent society.

  Hubert H. Humphrey

  Society, Pollution, Affluent

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• Affluence includes money but is not just money. It is the abundance, the flow, the generosity of the universe, where every desire we have must come true, because inherent in having the desire are the mechanics for its fulfillment.

  Deepak Chopra

  Success, Business, Generosity

  Deepak Chopra (2009). “Creating Affluence: The A-to-z Steps to a Richer Life: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.49, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Sadly, many individuals don't know where to find God, and exclude him from their lives. When spiritual needs arise, they may look to the left, the right, or round about. But looking to other people on the same level cannot satisfy spiritual shortages. When the immortal spirit is starved, hunger persists for something more filling. Even when material success comes, there is a hollow ache - if living well falls short of living worthily. Inner peace cannot be found in affluence accompanied by spiritual privation.

  Russell M. Nelson

  Spiritual, Fall, People

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• The only truly affluent are those who do not want more than they have.

  Erich Fromm

  Want, Affluent

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• Ease and luxury, such as our affluence brings today, do not make for maturity; hardship and struggle however do.

  J. I. Packer

  Struggle, Maturity, Luxury

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• The happiness promised us in Christ does not consist in outward advantages-such as leading a joyous and peaceful life, having rich possessions, being safe from all harm, and abounding with delights such as the flesh commonly longs after. No, our happiness belongs to the heavenly life!

  John Calvin

  Peaceful, Doe, Delight

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• All too many of those who live in affluent America ignore those who exist in poor America; in doing so, the affluent Americans will eventually have to face themselves with the question that Eichman chose to ignore: How responsible am I for the well-being of my fellows?

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  America, Faces, Poor

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

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• It is not only poverty that torments the Negro; it is the fact of poverty amid plenty. It is a misery generated by the gulf between the affluence he sees in the mass media and the deprivation he experiences in his everyday life.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Media, Everyday, Poverty

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

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• For that reason the simple test of the slogan 'Consume Less' as a basis for social action on the environment would be to tell it to the blacks in the ghetto. The message will not be very well received for there are many people in this country who consume less than is needed to sustain a decent life.

  Barry Commoner

  Country, Ghetto, Simple

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• It's a mistake to assume that Islamists always come from the slums. Indeed, many come from affluent families but for some reason just couldn't manage to integrate into Western society, even though they had good opportunities for advancement.

  Otto Schily

  Mistake, Opportunity, Advancement

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• The rule seems to be that there are no absolutes, that what is rare is prized. Thus, in times of relative affluence, thin models become dominant.

  Charles Jencks

  Models, Absolutes, Relative

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• If we are not sensible about this, in our ideas of wealth creation we may completely destroy the planet - which we are already doing in many ways.

  Jaggi Vasudev

  Ideas, Wealth Creation, May

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• There is wealth but no wellbeing. What are you going to do with this wealth?

  Jaggi Vasudev

  Wealth, Wellbeing

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• No matter what your work, let it be your own. No matter what your occupation, let what you are doing be organic. Let it be in your bones. In this way, you will open the door by which the affluence of heaven and earth shall stream into you.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Doors, Heaven, Earth

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• We must understand what our idea of wealth is. Is it just about more buildings, more machines, more cars, more of everything? More and more is death. In the most affluent societies in the world, for example in the United States of America, a significant percentage of the population is on anti-depressants on a regular basis. If you just withdraw one particular medication from the market, almost half the nation will go crazy. That is not wellbeing. Generally, an American citizen has everything that anyone would dream of.

  Jaggi Vasudev

  Dream, Crazy, Ideas

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• There's no question that in my lifetime, the contrast between what I called private affluence and public squalor has become very much greater. What do we worry about? We worry about our schools. We worry about our public recreational facilities. We worry about our law enforcement and our public housing. All of the things that bear upon our standard of living are in the public sector.

  John Kenneth Galbraith

  School, Law, Worry

  Source: progressive.org

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• The changes in the human condition are uncertain and frequent. Many, on whom fortune has bestowed her favours, may trace their family to a more unprosperous station; and many who are now in obscurity, may look back upon the affluence and exalted rank of their ancestors.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Favour, Obscurity, Looks

  Alexander Hamilton, Donald R. Hickey, Connie D. Clark (2006). “Citizen Hamilton: The Wit and Wisdom of an American Founder”, p.142, Rowman & Littlefield

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• If success or failure of this planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do... How would I be? What would I do? We may now care for each Earthian individual at a sustainable billionaire's level of affluence while living exclusively on less than 1 percent of our planet's daily energy income from our cosmically designed nuclear reactor, the Sun, optimally located 92 million safe miles away from us.

  R. Buckminster Fuller

  Care, May, Safe

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• The only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. Our charities should pinch and hamper us. If we live at the same level of affluence as other people who have our level of income, we are probably giving away too little.

  C. S. Lewis

  People, Giving, Income

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• To generate any appreciable degree of long-term affluence requires scrupulous honesty and the willingness to honor long-term agreements with employers, suppliers, partners, and especially customers. The flimflam artist may generate a few quick bucks through fraud or misrepresentation, but no successful and lasting business enterprise was ever founded on such principles.

  Robert Sheaffer

  Honesty, Successful, Artist

  Robert Sheaffer (1988). “Resentment Against Achievement: Understanding the Assault Upon Ability”

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