Article image

15 Quotes on the True Meaning of Wealth

Money. Everyone has to deal with it in some way, shape, or form, but not everyone has the same relationship to it. For some, it represents status, stability, and power; for others, it is a means to an end or a proxy for something else — obligation, freedom, expectation, or success. As Rebecca Johnson, a contributing editor to Vogue, once said, “Money is the opposite of the weather. Nobody talks about it, but everybody does something about it.”

Money is often tied up with the concept of wealth, though many great thinkers throughout history have made it a point to draw a distinction between being financially rich and living a happy life that is spiritually or emotionally rich. As a result, many of the best quotes about money tackle how it should be handled with caution: Accumulating money in the bank account does not guarantee a fulfilling life. On the contrary, making money without purpose can be disorienting, disillusioning, and dissatisfying.

Benjamin Franklin, whose countenance graces the $100 bill, had a lot to say about money, but one of his most memorable quotes addresses exactly this issue. “​​​​Who is rich?” he asked. “He that rejoices in his portion.” In other words, it’s not actual physical money that will bring a person joy, but gratitude itself. Below are 15 quotes that tackle the intertwined topics of money and wealth, in an attempt to understand what it truly means to be “rich.”

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
Epictetus

Share Quote

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.
Benjamin Franklin

Share Quote

Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires.
Ayn Rand

Share Quote

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.
Maya Angelou

Share Quote

​​Every day is a bank account, and time is our currency. No one is rich, no one is poor, we've got 24 hours each.
Christopher Rice

Share Quote

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
Warren Buffett

Share Quote

Money is of value for what it buys, and in love it buys time, place, intimacy, comfort, and a private corner alone.
Mae West

Share Quote

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
Seneca

Share Quote

​​Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.
P.T. Barnum

Share Quote

Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.
Mahatma Gandhi

Share Quote

There is a gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.
Marlene Dietrich

Share Quote

Money looks better in the bank than on your feet.
Sophia Amoruso

Share Quote

Many folks think they aren’t good at earning money, when what they don’t know is how to use it.
Frank A. Clark, politician

Share Quote

It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.
George Horace Lorimer, journalist

Share Quote

A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart.
Jonathan Swift

Share Quote

Photo credit: Nathan Dumlao/ Unsplash (cash); carolo7/ iStock (change)

Author image
About the Author
Joyce Chen
Joyce Chen is a writer, editor, and community builder based in Seattle, Washington.
Play more header background
Play more icon
Daily Question
Who said, "Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life"?

More Inspiration

happiness theme icon

You have to fail in order to practice being brave.

separator icon
Mary Tyler Moore
motivation theme icon

The transformation of the heart is a wondrous thing, no matter how you land there.

separator icon
Patti Smith
hope theme icon

Dismiss whatever insults your own soul.

separator icon
Walt Whitman
love theme icon

I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

separator icon
Eric Roth
wisdom theme icon

Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow.

separator icon
River Phoenix
happiness theme icon

We are all of us obliged... to nurse a few little follies in ourselves.

separator icon
Marcel Proust
motivation theme icon

Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect.

separator icon
Steve Jobs
hope theme icon

The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

separator icon
Eden Phillpotts
love theme icon

Everything that truly makes us happy is quite simple: love, sex, and food!

separator icon
Meryl Streep
wisdom theme icon

In quietness the soul expands.

separator icon
Rockwell Kent
happiness theme icon

From our first babblings to our last word, we make but one statement, and that is our life.

separator icon
Richard Paul Evans