A man is rich whose income is larger than his expenses, and he is poor if his expenses are greater than his income.
[Celui-là est riche, qui reçoit plus qu’il ne consume; celui-là est pauvre, dont la dépense excède la recette.]Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 6 “Of Gifts of Fortune [Des Biens de Fortune],” § 49 (6.49) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
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(Source (French)). Alternate translations:He is rich whose Receipt is more than his Expences, and he is poor whose Expences are more than his Receipt.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]He is rich, whose Income is more than his Expences; and he is poor whose Expences are more than his Income.
[Curll ed. (1713)]He is rich, whose Income is more than his Expences; and he is poor whose Expences exceed his Income.
[Browne ed. (1752)]That man is rich, who gets more than he spends; that man is poor, whose expenses exceed his receipts.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]
Quotations about:
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You always pay too much. Particularly for promises. There ain’t no such thing as a bargain promise.
Cormac McCarthy (1933-2023) American novelist, playwright, screenwriter
No Country For Old Men (2005)
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The flip side … the flip side is that scientific research is a bottomless money pit. You can approximate Doing Science to standing on the Crack of Doom throwing banknotes down it by the double-handful, in the hope that if you choke the volcano with enough paper it will cough up the One Ring. Unless you’re doing pure mathematics or philosophy, of course, in which case it’s HB pencils and ruled A4 notepads all the way down.
Honest Men often go to Law for their Right; when Wise Men would sit down with the Wrong, supposing the first Loss least. In some Countries the Course of the Courts is so tedious, and the Expence so high, that the Remedy, Justice, is worse than, Injustice, the Disease. In my Travels I once saw a Sign call’d The Two Men at Law; One of them was painted on one Side, in a melancholy Posture, all in Rags, with this Scroll, I have lost my Cause. The other was drawn capering for Joy, on the other Side, with these Words, I have gain’d my Suit; but he was stark naked.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1742 ed.)
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Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.
James Baldwin (1924-1987) American novelist, playwright, activist
“Fifth Avenue, Uptown: a Letter from Harlem,” Esquire (Jul 1960)
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If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
Robert Orben (1927-2023) American comedy writer, magician, speechwriter
(Attributed (1974))
Frequently attributed to Ann Landers, who used it in her column, but she herself cited Derek Bok (who then wrote her to disavow it being his). Also attributed to Andy McIntyre.
Further discussion of this quotation's origins:
He who breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 1: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, ch. 1 “The Council of Elrond” [Gandalf to Saruman] (1954)
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