#materialism

It was our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be overcome. . . . Children must early learn the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving. . . . The Indians in their simplicity literally give away all that they have—to relatives, to guests of other tribes or clans, but above all to the poor and the aged, from whom they can hope for no return. ↗

— Charles Alexander Eastman

#generosity #materialism #native-american-wisdom #simplicity #age

The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything. ↗

— Chuck Palahniuk

#materialism #posessions #freedom

We all need new ideas, images, and experiences far more than we need new stoves or cars or computers. ↗

— Bill Holm

#experience

We are tempted to believe that certain achievements and possessions will give us enduring satisfaction. We are invited to imagine ourselves scaling the steep cliff face of happiness in order to reach a wide, high plateau on which we will live out the rest of our lives; we are not reminded that soon after gaining the summit, we will be called down again into fresh lowlands of anxiety and desire. ↗

— Alain de Botton

#anxiety #desire #happiness #materialism #possessions

I’ve always felt that your belongings have never been on a level with you. ↗

— George Eliot

#poverty #life

Money is a great servant but a bad master. ↗

— Francis Bacon

#money #money

If money’s the god people worship, I’d rather go worship the devil instead. ↗

— Jess C. Scott

#commercialism #core #core-of-the-soul #core-values #devil

When somebody says it’s not about the money, it’s about the money. ↗

— H.L. Mencken

#money #money

Instead of loving people and using money, people often love money and use people. ↗

— Wayne Gerard Trotman

#greed #love #loving #materialism #materialistic

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