Ancient Quote by Joseph Addison

We see no where the pernicious effects of luxury on a republic more than in that of the ancient Romans, who immediately found itself…

— Joseph Addison

“it is always easy, as well as agreeable, for the the inferior ranks of mankind to claim a merit from the contempt of that…

— Edward Gibbon

The poor are always ragged and dirty, in very picturesque clothes, and on their poor shoes lies the earth of the Lacustrine period. And…

— M. E. W. Sherwood

Luxury either comes of riches or makes them necessary; it corrupts at once rich and poor, the rich by possession and the poor by…

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The ancients were destitute of many of the conveniences of life which have been invented or improved by the progress of industry; and the…

— Edward Gibbon

“Luxury always comes at someone else’s expense. One of the many advantages of civilization is that one doesn’t generally have to see that, if…

— Ann Leckie

When the men of antiquity realized their wishes, benefits were conferred by them on the people. If they did not realize their wishes, they…

— Mencius

Ignorant of the arts of luxury, the primitive Romans had improved the science of government and war.

— Edward Gibbon

Luxury, or a refinement on the pleasures and conveniences of life, had long been supposed the source of every corruption in government, and the…

— David Hume

“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…

— Jerry Z. Muller

“luxury   generally prevails in prosperity, and wastes the blessings of God,”

— John Calvin

“The narrow policy of preserving, without any foreign mixture, the pure blood of the ancient citizens, had checked the fortune, and hastened the ruin,…

— Edward Gibbon