Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

The quest for riches darkens the sense of right and wrong.

Money is the worst currency that ever grew among mankind. This sacks cities, this drives men from their homes, this teaches and corrupts the worthiest minds to turn base deeds.

The heart which finds life in material wealth is usually certain to go farther and seek for more in the satisfaction of base and sullen appetites.

The FSG story starts to lose its fairy-tale aura when filthy lucre invades the sacred enclosure, as it did ubiquitously in the every-man-for-himself Reagan era.

... we've passed from the age of the common man to the common crook.

Callous greed grows pious very fast.

It is a world of mischief that may be done by a single example of avarice or luxury. One voluptuous palate makes many more.

I think that money is the root of all evil. I've seen it happen.

Avarice has ruined more souls than extravagance.

By gold all good faith has been banished; by gold our rights are abused; the law itself is influenced by gold, and soon there will be an end of every modest restraint.

Men make counterfeit money; in many more cases, money makes counterfeit men.

Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul.

But men are so full of greed today, they'll sell anything for a little piece of money.

Great abundance of riches cannot be gathered and kept by any man without sin.

The corruption of the American soul is consumerism.

There are still people in Japan who think money is something evil.

The beast for me is greed. Whether you read Dante, Swift, or any of these guys, it always boils down to the same thing: the corruption of the soul.

The curse of covetousness is that it destroys manhood by substituting money for character.

I think that money spoils most things, once it becomes the primary motivating force.

I'm not averse to making a lot of money. But where does that end? I hang out with people with hundreds of millions of dollars. Is that the standard by which I should measure myself? Where does that take you if you're in my business? I think it takes you to pretty dark, corrupt places.

There's nothing that will change someone's moral outlook quicker than cash in large sums.

Every child was taught from his cradle that money was Mammon, the chief agent of the flesh and the devil.

We have seen that in this country in the last few years, particularly on Wall Street, with the rise of the old human frailty of greed. This occurs when people begin to serve only their own needs to the detriment of everyone else.

There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.

The possession of wealth leads almost inevitably to its abuse. It is the chief, if not the only, cause of evils which desolate this world below. The thirst for gold is responsible for the most regrettable lapses into sin.