Acquisition Quote by Desiderius Erasmus
“Providence has decreed that those common acquisitions, money, gems, plate, noble mansions, and dominion, should be sometimes bestowed on the indolent and unworthy; but those things which constitute our true riches, and which are properly our own, must be procured by our own labor.”
About This Quote
Source Treatise: On the Education of a Christian Prince, 1514
True wealth comes from personal effort, not from inherited or bestowed material possessions; labor is the source of genuine riches.
In simple terms: Earned wealth is real; inherited wealth is not.
Key Takeaway
Value hard work over unearned gifts.
Themes
labor
wealth
virtue
Mood
inspirational
pragmatic
Type
ethical
motivational
When to use this quote
- career building
- entrepreneurship
- financial planning
- social mobility
Key Concepts
self‑reliance
social inequality
personal merit
Questions to Reflect On
- What personal habits cultivate true wealth?
- How can society reward effort over inheritance?
A Different Perspective
May discount the role of systemic advantage or privilege in success.
![“No one suffers so much as he [the genius] with the people, and, therefore, for the people, with whom he lives. For, in a certain sense, it is certainly only "by suffering" that a man knows. If compassion is not itself clear, abstractly conceivable or visibly symbolic knowledge, it is, at any rate…” quote by Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bec/otto-weininger-11319_acquisition_no-one-suffers-so-much-as-he-the-genius_20597.jpg)
