Samuel Johnson Quotes on Money & Wealth (23 Quotes)

Without economy none can be rich, and with it few can be poor.

No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.

He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

As the Spanish proverb says, He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him. So it is in travelling a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.

Riches exclude only one inconvenience, And that is poverty.

Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life, and... the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use.

Keeping accounts, Sir, is of no use when a man is spending his own money, and has nobody to whom he is to account. You won't eat less beef today, because you have written down what it cost yesterday.

I have two very cogent reasons for not printing any list of subscribers - one, that I have lost all the names, - the other, that I have spent all the money.

Between falsehood and useless truth there is little difference. As gold which he cannot spend will make no man rich, so knowledge which cannot apply will make no man wise.

Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

It is wonderful to think how men of very large estates not only spend their yearly income, but are often actually in want of money. It is clear, they have not value for what they spend.

There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.

It is better to live rich than to die rich.

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

One cause, which is not always observed, of the insufficiency of riches, is that they very seldom make their owner rich.

Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.

There are minds which easily sink into submission, that look on grandeur with undistinguishing reverence, and discover no defect where there is elevation of rank and affluence of riches.

No money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction.

Men are seldom more innocently employed than when they are honestly making money.

Sir, the insolence of wealth will creep out.

Let me smile with the wise, and feed with the rich.

Solitude is dangerous to reason, without being favourable to virtue. . . . Remember that the solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probably superstitious, and possibly mad.

You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.