80 Wealth Quotes Showing Both Sides of Money

By Stephanie Kirby

Writer, Entrepreneur and Inspirational quote curator

Published September 18, 2022

We tend to think of wealth as good but there are two sides to every story as these wealth quotes show.

Growing wealth is a pursuit that many people have in life.

And while money can open a lot of doors for people and provide new opportunities, there is another side to it.

If you’re not careful, money can become your central focus which is why some people with money get such a bad name.

So whether you’re in pursuit of wealth or learning how to manage what you have, there are many lessons found in the wealth quotes below.

Don’t forget to also check out these money quotes celebrating financial literacy and independence.

Also, check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily wisdom.

See the rest of our quote database for even more inspirational ideas and thoughts.

Wise wealth quotes

1. “You can’t enjoy wealth if you’re not in good health.” – Anonymous

2. “God gave us wealth, not that we should be hoarders but dispensers.” – Thomas Manton

3. “Wealth can do us no good unless it helps us toward heaven.” – Thomas Adams

4. “It is only when the rich are sick that they fully feel the impotence of wealth.” – C. C. Colton

5. “Wealth flows from energy and ideas.” – William Feather

6. “Wealth is quiet. Rich is loud. Poor is flashy.” – Unknown

7. “Wealth is no mark of God’s favour. Poverty is no mark of God’s displeasure.” – J. C. Ryle

8. “Former education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn

9. “Wealth is not wisdom’s goal, but is often wisdom’s reward.” – R.C. Sproul

10. “Excuse me while I save, invest, and build wealth.” – Stephanie Lahart

You will also enjoy our article on billionaire quotes.

True wealth quotes

11. “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” – Jim Rohn

12. “The most valuable things in your life are always the things that money cannot buy.” – Matshona Dhilwayo

13. “The key to understanding if something is truly precious is to ask if we can hold it, for things truly precious cannot be held.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough

14. “If you choose money over love, you will always be poor.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

15. “The rich invest in time, the poor invest in money.” – Warren Buffett

16. “True wealth is not of the pocket, but of the heart and of the mind.” – Kevin Gates

17. “The real measure of our wealth is how much we’d be worth if we lost all our money.” – John Henry Jowett

18. “True wealth is not measured in money or status or power. It is measured in the legacy we leave behind for those we love and those we inspire.” – Cesar Casey

19. “The mark of true wealth is determined by how much one can give away.” – T. Harv Eker

20. “True wealth is not what you have, it’s what you’re left with when all you have is gone.” – James Arthur Ray

The dangers of wealth quotes

21. “Whenever wealth keeps a man from thinking about God, it is not a blessing but a curse.” – John Blanchard

22. “Money is a tool. Used properly it makes something beautiful; used wrong, it makes a mess!” – Bradley Vinson

23. “The more money he has, the more troubles he will have.” – C. H. Spurgeon

24. “In today’s world, money is like oxygen – lack of oxygen can kill you, so can too much of it.” – Abhijit Naskar

25. “People have to do awful things for money.” – Gillian Flynn

26. “Getting straight with your money is as complicated as a trip to the grocery store: You need a comparison shop, add and subtract, stick with a plan, and ask questions- nothing more.” – Elizabeth Warren

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to check out our collection of Elizabeth Warren quotes on capitalism, politics, and more.

27. “When the purse becomes empty, the mind becomes full of issues.” – Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

28. “Money is a very dangerous thing, you have to get to know how to look after it or else you will lose it with ease and remember how you would’ve it in hard times.” – Auliq Ice

29. “Rich people buy luxuries last, while the poor and middle class tend to buy luxuries first.” – Robert Kiyosaki

30. “Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people play the money game to not lose.” – T. Harv Eker

Wealth quotes about rich people

31. “The only thing I like about rich people is their money.” – Nancy Astor

32. “When rich people fight wars with one another, poor people are the ones to die.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

33. “Are you willing to work sixteen hours a day? Rich people are. Are you willing to work seven days a week and five up most of your weekends? Rich people are. Are you willing to sacrifice seeing your family, your friends, and give up your recreations and hobbies? Rich people are. Are you willing to risk all your time, energy and start-up capital with no guarantee of returns? Rich people are.” – T. Harv Eker

34. “Try to imagine an America without rich people. Rich people contribute a lot to this country.” – Bernard Goldberg

35. “Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people want to be rich.” – T. Harv Eker

36. “Rich people always have a certain degree of debt. Apparently it helps to reduce taxes. I’m not so hot on the bean-counting side.” – Felix Dennis

37. “There are a lot of rich people in the world. There are very few people who have the privilege of getting to invent things that billions of people use.” – David Karp

38. “Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell.” – Walter Bagehot

39. “Is the rich world aware of how four billion of the six billion live? If we were aware, we would want to help out, we’d want to get involved.” – Bill Gates

40. “Poor people have big TV’s. Rich people have big libraries.” – Jim Rohn

Thought-provoking wealth quotes

41. “Most rich people are the poorest people I know.” – Elsa Maxwell

42. “The gratification of wealth is not found in mere possession or in lavish expenditure but in its wise application.” – Miguel de Cervantes

43. “What good is money if it can’t buy happiness?” – Agatha Christie

44. “No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned.” – Theodore Roosevelt

45. “A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.” – Jonathan Swift

46. “Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.”- Henry David Thoreau

47. “Without a rich heart wealth is an ugly beggar.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

48. “The greatest thing money can buy is freedom.” – Damien Thomas

49. “The first wealth is health.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

50. “Inherited wealth, that is not what America is based upon.” – Richard Neal

More wealth quotes and sayings

51. “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” – Epictetus

52. “Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” – Ayn Rand

53. “Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.” – Seneca

54. “The wealth of a soul is measured by how much it can feel… its poverty by how little.” – Sherrilyn Kenyon

55. “If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free. If our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.” – Edmund Burke

56. 2Those who know the true use of money, and regulate the measure of wealth according to their needs, live contented with few things.” – Spinoza

57. Wealth is not about having a lot of money; it’s about having a lot of options.” – Chris Rock

58. Wealth is a person’s ability to survive a certain number of days forward.” – R. Buckminster Fuller

59. Wealth is like seawater; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

60. “Where people are really attached, poverty itself is wealth.” – Jane Austen

More wealth quotes that are full of wisdom

61. “Money can’t buy happiness but it can buy a huge yacht that sails right next to it.” ― David Lee Roth

62. “There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge. Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought.” ― Napoleon Hill

63. “Wealth is not without its advantages and the case to the contrary, although it has often been made, has never proved widely persuasive.” ― John Kenneth Galbraith

64. “There is only one true wealth in all the universe–living time.” ― Frank Herbert

65. “Hold material goods and wealth on a flat palm and not in a clenched fist.” ― Alistair Begg

66. “The poor, I am told, are kind to each other but that is because they have nothing to lose,’ he said. ‘The rich cannot afford to be.” ― M.R.C. Kasasian

67. “I know money isn’t everything. but it certainly is something.” ― Thisuri Wanniarachchi

68. “Your income can grow only to the extent that you do.” ― T. Harv Eker

69. “Share your love, share you happiness, care for others; your wealth will be endless.” ― Debasish Mridha

70. “Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence.” ― John Kenneth Galbraith

Wealth Quotes To Make Us Humble

71. “Like wealth, poverty also has the power to build us up and make us appreciate what we have, or it can break our spirits.” ― S. Truett Cathy

72. “To give someone a piece of your heart, is worth more than all the wealth in the world.” ― Michael Jackson

73. “God has ordained the blessing of prosperity to work through faith in Him and therein lies the greatest wealth.” ― Jim Ballew

74. “As you can see, wealth isn’t necessarily about money; it is more the wealth that you have within your own soul and what comes out through your mouth and heart.” ― Catherine Pulsifer

75. “Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time.” ― Margaret Bonnano

76. “We are rich only if we control our wealth. If our wealth controls us, we are poor.” ― M. K. Soni

77. “The body can be a source of wealth train it right for your health.” ― Jerry Brundies

78. “Wealth is having enough. That means to some people, no matter how much they have, they can’t really be wealthy because they want more than they’ve got.” ― Warren Buffett

79. “You aren’t wealthy until you have something money can’t buy.” ― Garth Brooks

80. “Having talents, brains, or coming from a wealthy family does not guarantee you a rich life.” ― M. J. Mackenzie

What did you learn from these wealth quotes?

A few lessons we can take away from these quotes are that while wealth is good and can do many things like providing ease and comfort, it can also be difficult for some people to manage.

This can lead to selfishness and being greedy.

Money is not the most important thing and it’s something that everyone can earn and save in an honest way.

And if you want to build wealth, it’s important to learn the strategies and habits that wealthy people have in their lives that help them grow and manage money.