20 Ideas That Will Change Your View of Money

A few authors, speakers, philosophers and prophets weigh in on the

'almighty dollar.'

In an era of credit cards, mortgages, student loans and car payments, handling money
is complicated enough. But when you add in a topsy-turvy economy, unstable
unemployment rates and questions about the ethics of our mass consumption culture,
dealing with money and personal finance with confidence can be a daily struggle.
We pulled together 20 ideasarticulated by everyone from contemporary leaders and
culture-makers to ancient thinkers and timeless scripturesthat will not only help you
navigate the challenges of dealing with money, but can also change your view of it.
The Limits of Money
"Money often costs too much." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Price is a crazy and incalculable thing, while value is an intrinsic and indestructible
thing." G.K. Chesterton
Let me ask you one question / Is your money that good / Will it buy you forgiveness? /
Do you think that it could? / I think you will find / When your death takes its toll / All the
money you made / Will never buy back your soul Bob Dylan
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and
where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Jesus (Matthew 6:19-21)
"One of the dangers of having a lot of money is that you may be quite satisfied with the
kinds of happiness money can give, and so fail to realize your need for God. If
everything seems to come simply by signing checks, you may forget that you are at
every moment totally dependent on God ... In other words, it is hard for those who are
rich in this sense to enter the Kingdom." C.S. Lewis
Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the
privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy. Wendell Berry
"In the end, therefore, money will be the one thing people will desire, which is moreover
only representative, an abstraction. Nowadays a young man hardly envies anyone his
gifts, his art, the love of a beautiful girl, or his fame; he only envies him his money. 'Give
me money,' he will say, 'and I am saved' ... He would die with nothing to reproach
himself with, and under the impression that if only he had had the money he might really
have lived and might even have achieved something great." Sren Kierkegaard
Never Enough
"If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough." Vicki Robin
"Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he
wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one." - Benjamin Franklin
"What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to
much more." - Seneca
"Money is a great servant but a bad master." Francis Bacon
"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants." Epictetus
"For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have
food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into
temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into
ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people,
eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many
griefs." - Paul (1 Timothy 6:7-10)
Work
"There's no labor a man can do that's undignifiedif he does it right." Bill Cosby
It's not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and
five. It's whether or not our work fulfills us. Malcolm Gladwell
"It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution. It's also a very clear path
to happiness." Sheryl Sandberg
"Part of me would just like to relax and have one job that pays me the amount I need to
survive. And another part of me wants the creativity that comes out of struggle and
frustration and fear. It's a never-ending cycle, which must be how I want it, on some
level." Questlove
Giving
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who
have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." Franklin D.
Roosevelt
"Don't tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I'll
tell you what they are." - James W. Frick
"Better is a little with righteousness than great income with injustice." King Solomon
(Proverbs 16:8)