#materialism

The European talks of progress because by the aid of a few scientific discoveries he has established a society which has mistaken comfort for civilisation. ↗

— Benjamin Disraeli

#comfort #materialism #progress #science #science

What's the use of a fine house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on? ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#environment #environmental-protection #materialism #possessions #environment

I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth "home." Before you know it, I am calling luxeries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set. ↗

— John Piper

#fitting-in #materialism #mind-set #missions #money

The problems afflicting a nation are always in equal measure spiritual crises. ↗

— Ron Suskind

#idolatry #materialism #education

The Master said, “If your conduct is determined solely by considerations of profit you will arouse great resentment. ↗

— Confucius

#consumerism #greed #materialism #profit #greed

Our lives are mere flashes of light in an infinitely empty universe. In 12 years of education the most important lesson I have learned is that what we see as “normal” living is truly a travesty of our potential. In a society so governed by superficiality, appearances, and petty economics, dreams are more real than anything anything in the “real world”. Refuse normalcy. Beauty is everywhere, love is endless, and joy bleeds from our everyday existence. Embrace it. I love all of you, all my friends, family, and community. I am ceaselessly grateful from the bottom of my heart for everyone. The only thing I can ask of you is to stay free of materialism. Remember that every day contains a universe of potential; exhaust it. Live and love so immensely that when death comes there is nothing left for him to take. Wealth is love, music, sports, learning, family and freedom. Above all, stay gold. ↗

— Dominic Owen Mallary

#appearances #beauty #death #education #existence

The Whites have carried to these (colonial) people the worst that they could carry: the plagues of the world: materialism, fanaticism, alcoholism, and syphilis. Moreover, since what these people possessed on their own was superior to anything we could give them, they have remained themselves... The sole result of the activity of the colonizers is: they have everywhere aroused hatred. ↗

— Adolf Hitler

#hatred #materialism #problems #alcohol

To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much, impossible. ↗

— Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

#materialism #contentment

People are too complicated to have simple labels. ↗

— Philip Pullman

#people #materialism

My shoes I got to pick. I chose worn-out red flats. I figured I should make it clear from the start that I wasn’t princess material. ↗

— Kiera Cass

#materialism