Rachel Shenton Quotes

The world at large does not judge us by who we are and what we know; it judges us by what we have.

The media is convincing people that if you have that 'next thing,' that diamond, the right car, then you'd be happier.

To be rich nowadays merely means to possess a large number of poor objects.

A Rolex watch or an expensive car are the things guys often use to show status, wealth, and basic desirability.

Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns.

I worry that every time I lay down my credit card of choice, it says something about me. About my social standing or how I see myself. The very colour of your card is an indication of where you stand in the wealth stakes.

Wealth, religion, military victory have more rhetorical than efficacious worth.

In our rich consumers' civilization we spin cocoons around ourselves and get possessed by our possessions.

As human beings, we're very materialistic and have all this stuff - furs and cars and diamonds and money.

You can almost judge how screwed up somebody is by the kind of toilet paper they use. Go in any rich house and it's some weird coloured embossed stuff.

Fashion for the most part is nothing but the ostentation of riches.

I don't own anything designer.

In Europe, you would almost never have people with large amounts of income being happy with a two-volume vehicle like a hatchback or a minivan. They want to structurally show their societal position, which is why three volumes are so popular. They show 'I'm part of that hierarchy.'

I understand the human instinct to want to create a nest and possess things, to show them off, but for me personally, it became less and less interesting.

I am not trying to say that I am poor and that I don't like beautiful things. But I don't like luxury for luxury sake or in the sense of showing off luxury.

Culture and possessions, there is the bourgeoisie for you.

Horses and horsepower alike are about status and being cool.

Human nature doesn't change. When enough people are comfortable enough financially, there is going to be human nature that wants to spend more money on better quality and, to some degree, status symbols as well.

In a consumer society, people wallow in things, fascinating, enjoyable things. If you define your value by the things you acquire and surround yourself with, being excluded is humiliating.

The more things you own, the more people you need to employ.

There's always going to be someone with a bigger toy than yours.

We judge of entire nations by the productions of a few mechanical arts, and think we are talking of men, while we are boasting of their estates, their dress, and their palaces. The sense in which we apply the terms, great, and noble, high rank, and high life, show, that we have, on such occasions, transferred the idea of perfection from the character to the equipage; and that excellence itself is, in our esteem, a mere pageant, adorned at a great expense, by the labors of many workmen.

Wealth has never been a sufficient source of honour in itself. It must be advertised, and the normal medium is obtrusively expensive.

After I had money, I realized about all that all the things I thought I wanted that I don't need a lot of stuff. If there's anything I get excited by, it's a nice car.

People look at Instagram and say they want money, they want this, they want that.