James Caulfield, 1st Earl of Charlemont Quotes
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle or a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven, than for a politician to lay aside disguise.
See {629121} for the Christian religious quotation regarding the "eye of a needle."
James Caulfeild, 1728-1779, 1st Earl of Charlemont, Irish Politician, 1867
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
See {629122} for a secular version of this religious text.
There were few if any consumer protection laws in those days and many wealthy aristocrats made their money by taking advantage of the poor. They were the landowners, bankers, financiers and often the industrialists. Shaw was a sarcastic social critic and this is a typical line he gave his upper class characters. Today, we have more controls on business and finance, and many wealthy business people have gotten that way by providing great value to the consumers and being honest. However, we still have large numbers of wealthy members of society who do make their money from the poor and middle class by unethical and often illegal means. In the aftermath of the Meltdown of 2008. hundreds of thousands of the homes of the working poor and middle class were foreclosed by the major banks forging the legal documentation for the foreclusures. Millions of consumer contracts are issued that even a PhD cannot understand the terms of without special legal and financial training. There is even a legal definition of a salesperson lying to make a sale which is so commonplace that our law excuses it and calls it "puffing". However, there has been over time, improvement over Shaw's era.
- Born: August 18, 1728
- Died: August 4, 1799
- Nationality:
- Profession:
