“ The rich have many other passions besides that of riches to satisfy ”
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1840). copy citation
Author | Alexis de Tocqueville |
---|---|
Source | Democracy in America |
Topic | passion |
Date | 1840 |
Language | English |
Reference | |
Note | Translated by Henry Reeve |
Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/816/816-h/816-h.htm |
Context
“If we attentively consider each of the classes of which society is composed, it is easy to see that the passions engendered by property are keenest and most tenacious amongst the middle classes. The poor often care but little for what they possess, because they suffer much more from the want of what they have not, than they enjoy the little they have. The rich have many other passions besides that of riches to satisfy; and, besides, the long and arduous enjoyment of a great fortune sometimes makes them in the end insensible to its charms. But the men who have a competency, alike removed from opulence and from penury, attach an enormous value to their possessions.”
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