23 Quotes on the Value and Danger of Money

Ask ten people what they think about money and wealth, and you’ll likely get ten different answers.

Wealth may not be all that it’s cracked up to be, but at the same time, who doesn’t want a few extra dollars in their pocket?

We’ve gathered 23 quotes from some of the world’s most famous authors, speakers, philosophers, comedians, and leaders; and no, they don’t all agree about the role of money in life.

Still, there’s wisdom to be gleaned, and you may find your own thoughts about money being challenged in the process. 

Quotes about money and wealth

1. “If you wish to get rich, save what you get. A fool can earn money; but it takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage.” — Brigham Young
2. “Money is a tool. Used properly it makes something beautiful; used wrong, it makes a mess!” — Bradley Vinson
3. “Balancing your money is the key to having enough.” — Elizabeth Warren
4. “Rich people have small TVs and big libraries, and poor people have small libraries and big TVs.” — Zig Ziglar
5. “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” — Epictetus
6. “If you’ve got a dollar and you spend 29 cents on a loaf of bread, you’ve got 71 cents left. But if you’ve got seventeen grand and you spend 29 cents on a loaf of bread, you’ve still got seventeen grand. There’s a math lesson for you.” — Steven Martin
7. “Fortune sides with him who dares.” — Virgil
8. “Everyday is a bank account, and time is our currency. No one is rich, no one is poor, we’ve got 24 hours each.” — Christopher Rice
9. “Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” — Ayn Rand
10. “Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.” — Seneca
11. “Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.” — Benjamin Franklin
12. “Hold material goods and wealth on a flat palm and not in a clenched fist.” — Alistair Begg
13. “Wealth, my son, should never be your goal in life. Your words are eloquent but they are mere words. True wealth is of the heart, not of the purse.” — Og Mandino
14. “While money can’t buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.” — Groucho Marx
15. “You can be young without money, but you can’t be old without it.” — Tennessee Williams
16. “Wealth is not about having a lot of money; it’s about having a lot of options.” — Chris Rock
17. “If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire.” — George Monbiot
18. “Don’t think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.” — Voltaire
19. “It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose your own.” — Harry S. Truman
20. “Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does.” — Jane Austen
21. “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1” — Warren Buffett
22. “I think you will find when your death takes its toll all the money you made will never buy back your soul” — Bob Dylan
23. “The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it in your back pocket.” — Will Rogers