I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: 'If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.' Well, then, if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.
Christopher HitchensRead
There is no intrinsic worth in money but what is alterable with the times, and whether a guinea goes for twenty pounds or for a shilling, it is the labor of the poor and not the high and low value that is set on gold or silver, which all the comforts of life must arise from.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Money's value is subjective and tied to labor, not its physical worth.
This quote highlights the idea that money itself does not possess inherent value; rather, its worth fluctuates with societal change and is ultimately derived from the labor that creates the wealth it represents. The comfort and richness of life stem not from the metal itself, like gold or silver, but from the hard work and effort of individuals, particularly those who are often overlooked in discussions about wealth and value.
Themes
MoneyValueLaborWealthPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the economic crisis, this quote can emphasize the importance of labor over monetary value.
Similar quotes
It would be one of the greatest triumphs of humanity, one of the most tangible liberations from the constraints of nature to which mankind is subject, if we could succeed in raising the responsible act of procreating children to the level of a deliberate and intentional activity and in freeing it from its entanglement with the necessary satisfaction of a natural need.
Sigmund FreudRead
Concepts, like individuals, have their histories and are just as incapable of withstanding the ravages of time as are individuals. But in and through all this they retain a kind of homesickness for the scenes of their childhood.
Soren KierkegaardRead
One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice.
SocratesRead
Hateful day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. 'Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemlance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred.' - Frankenstein
Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyRead
What the expression is intended to mean, I think, is that there is a better and a worse element in the character of each individual, and that when the naturally better element controls the worse then the man is said to be "master of himself", as a term of praise. But when - as a result of bad upbringing or bad company one s better element is overpowered by the numerical superiority of one s worse impulses, then one is criticized for not being master of oneself and for lack of self control.
PlatoRead