I’m not an Ayn Rand fan, but you have to acknowledge some wisdom in this selection.
- When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion,
- when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing,
- when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors,
- when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work,
- and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you,
- when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice,
you may know that your society is doomed.
– Ayn Rand (1905-1982) Author – Source: Atlas Shrugged, Francisco’s “Money Speech”
From an older and very different kind of source –
Every evil, harm and suffering in this life comes from the love of riches.
– St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Were the talents and virtues which heaven has bestowed on men given merely to make them more obedient drudges, to be sacrificed to the follies and ambition of a few?
Or, were not the noble gifts so equally dispensed with a divine purpose and law, that they should as nearly as possible be equally exerted, and the blessings of Providence be equally enjoyed by all?
– Samuel Adams (1722-1803) one of the fathers of the American Revolution
These three quotes were in an email newsletter I get from Information Clearing House.
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