For the pagan world, wealth constitutes glory and greatness. For a Christian, wealth is an exposure of his failings or lies. To say “a wealthy Christian” is the same as to say “a legless racehorse.”
People have become so mired in material interests that manifestations of the human soul, expressed in human relationships, are viewed only from the perspective of material gain. Their self worth is measured by the amount of this or that thing in their possession and not by the inner dignity of a human being. But a truly enlightened person is ashamed of his possessions and his money out of a respect for his rational self.
— Emerson
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
— James 5:1–5
I see everywhere a conspiracy of the rich to advance their own interests under the pretext of organizing society.
— Thomas More
Poverty teaches us both wisdom and patience. After all, even Lazarus lived in poverty and yet was crowned; and Jacob desired only to have bread, and Joseph lived in extreme poverty and was not only a slave, but a prisoner, and yet this only makes us more in awe of him. We praise him less when he was handing out wheat than when he was in the dungeon; less when he had a king’s crown upon him than when he was in fetters; not when he sat upon the throne, but when he was subjected to intrigues and sold. Now then, as we visualize all this and think about the wreaths woven by these exploits, what will awe us is not the riches and honors, not the pleasures and dominion, but poverty, fetters, bonds and patience for the sake of virtue.
— John Chrysostom
The possession of wealth is a school of pride, cruelty, conceited ignorance and debauchery.
— Puisieux
The indifference of the rich is less cruel than their sympathy.
— After Rousseau
Instead of respecting the rich we should distance ourselves from their lives and pity them. The rich should be ashamed, not proud of their wealth.
