The discussion of money in the book "The Shackles of Life"

Maud 2022-07-04 20:58:15

1. There is nothing in the world more humiliating than worrying about your livelihood all the time. I despise the people who see money as dung. They are either hypocrites or fools. Money is a sixth sense, without which the other five senses cannot function fully. Without enough income, half of the possibilities in life will be blocked. Doing anything is worried that it will outweigh the losses, and will never pay two shillings for a shilling. Some people say that poverty is the best motivator for artists, because they have never experienced the pain of poverty. They don't know that poverty can make a person mean, it can subject you to endless humiliation, it can cut off your wings, it can eat your soul like cancer.

There is nothing so degrading as the constant anxiety about one's means of livelihood. I have nothing but contempt for the people who despise money. They are hypocrites or fools. Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. Without an adequate income half the possibilities of life are shut off. The only thing to be careful about is that you do not pay more than a shilling for the shilling you earn. You will hear people say that poverty is the best spur to the artist. They have never felt the iron of it in their flesh. They do not know how mean it makes you. It exposes you to endless humiliation, it cuts your wings, it eats into your soul like a cancer. It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank, and independent.

2. He knows that lack of money will make a person stingy, mean, and greedy, and it will distort a person's character and make his perspective on the world become vulgar; when every penny has to be calculated, the importance of money is Like magnified by a fun mirror, there must be a certain ability to see its value properly.

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Of Human Bondage quotes

  • Thorpe Athelny: Well, I suppose youth must be served, but I must say, I'm sick and tired of serving it!

  • Thorpe Athelny: Don't stand by my chair in order to make eyes at him.