The rich are abstractly interesting to me because they are the only examples of unfettered human nature. In other words, rich people can do more of what they want than anyone else. A rich person behaves well because he’s a well-behaved person. Everyone else behaves well — at least to some people — because they have to: they have a boss. Being poor is like being a child. Being rich is like being an adult: you get to do whatever you want. Everyone is nice when they have to be; rich people are nice when they feel like it.

Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist

Interview with James Atlas, “What They Look Like to the Rest of Us,” New York Times Magazine (19 Nov 1995)
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