But among the Very Rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
A Miscellany of Men, “The Miser and His Friends” (1912)
    (Source)

In a similar vein, in "The Paradise of Thieves," The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914), Chesterton has the character Muscari say:

To be clever enough to get all that money,
one must be stupid enough to want it.


 
Added on 18-Jul-11 | Last updated 13-Sep-23
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