“ There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else. ”
Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891). copy citation
| Author | Oscar Wilde |
|---|---|
| Source | The Soul of Man under Socialism |
| Topic | poverty money |
| Date | 1891 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1017/1017-0.txt |
Context
“It is to be noted that Jesus never says that impoverished people are necessarily good, or wealthy people necessarily bad. That would not have been true. Wealthy people are, as a class, better than impoverished people, more moral, more intellectual, more well-behaved. There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else. That is the misery of being poor. What Jesus does say is that man reaches his perfection, not through what he has, not even through what he does, but entirely through what he is. And so the wealthy young man who comes to Jesus is represented as a thoroughly good citizen, who has broken none of the laws of his state, none of the commandments of his religion.”
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Meaning and analysis
