““To us, the argument for material well-being might seem uncontroversial. But in the eighteenth century, material prosperity was frequently condemned as "luxury" by religious and civic moralists. It was not a morally neutral word but a pejorative one, connoting not comfort but excess, the possession of nonnecessities. The notion of luxury was intricately connected with the existence of a recognized social hierarchy: what was necessary for those of high status was regarded as excessive for those of low status. Luxury meant the enjoyment of material goods not appropriate to one's station in life. Critics of luxury saw it as confounding social ranks. P. 40””
![“Luxury is dangerous to people who have never known it and to whom its temptations are held out too suddenly. [...] Just as the advantage of culture is that it enables you to talk nonsense with distinction, so the habit of luxury allows you to regard its frills and furbelows with a proper…” quote by W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3d8/w-somerset-maugham-237_quote_luxury-is-dangerous-to-people-who-have-n_1262444.jpg)
