--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The loony legacy of money was that the…" description: "\"The loony legacy of money was that the arithmetic by which things were measured had become more valuable than the things themselves.\" — Tom Robbins" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/038/tom-robbins-169_arithmetic_the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-a_268325.jpg" --- # The loony legacy of money was that the arithmetic by which… ![“The loony legacy of money was that the arithmetic by which things were measured had become more valuable than the things themselves.” quote by Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/038/tom-robbins-169_arithmetic_the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-a_268325.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/038/tom-robbins-169_arithmetic_the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-a_268325.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/038/tom-robbins-169_arithmetic_the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-a_268325.jpg) > “The loony legacy of money was that the arithmetic by which things were measured had become more valuable than the things themselves.” [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Money’s focus on measurement eclipses intrinsic value of things. **In simple terms:** Measurement overtakes true worth. Key Takeaway Balance quantification with appreciation. Themes money value measurement materialism Mood contemplative skeptical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - budgeting - consumer decisions - art valuation Key Concepts economics philosophy cultural critique Questions to Reflect On - How do you assess true worth? - When does measurement become harmful? A Different Perspective May overlook necessity of metrics. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Arithmetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arithmetic/) [Legacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/legacy/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) ## Related quotes > [At the end of the day, we fight for the legacy, but you don't want to be just a fighter with legacy with no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danny-garcia/at-the-end-of-the-day-we-fight-for-the-legacy-but-you-don-t-want-to/) [Danny Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danny-garcia/) > [Certainly it is important to work hard for your children, but if the only legacy you can give them is money it is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-beardsley/certainly-it-is-important-to-work-hard-for-your-children-but-if-the/) Helen Beardsley > [Long before I learned to do a sum in arithmetic or describe the shape of the earth, Miss Sullivan had taught me to find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keller/long-before-i-learned-to-do-a-sum-in-arithmetic-or-describe-the-shape/) [Helen Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keller/) > [Arithmetic arithmetock Turn the hands back on the clock How does the ocean rock the boat? 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But we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-merkley/i-am-pretty-good-at-arithmetic-and-i-know-that-the-fight-in-front-of/) [Jeff Merkley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-merkley/) > [Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head to your hand to your pencil to your paper till you get the answer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/arithmetic-is-numbers-you-squeeze-from-your-head-to-your-hand-to-your/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [To divide one's life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/to-divide-one-s-life-by-years-is-of-course-to-tumble-into-a-trap-set/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) ## More by Tom Robbins > [There are times when we can feel destiny close around us like a fist around a doorknob. Sure, we can resist. 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It is not merely the opium of the masses, it is the cyanide.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/religion-is-a-paramount-contributor-to-human-misery-it-is-not-merely/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [She continued weeping until the heat of her tear water, the sheer velocity of its flow, finally obscured the already vague circumstances of its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/she-continued-weeping-until-the-heat-of-her-tear-water-the-sheer/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [The bottom line is that (a) people are never perfect, but love can be, (b) that is the one and only way that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-bottom-line-is-that-a-people-are-never-perfect-but-love-can-be-b/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Virtually every advancement made by our species since civilization first peeked out of its nest of stone has been initiated by lone individuals, mavericks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/virtually-every-advancement-made-by-our-species-since-civilization/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [When we accept small wonders, we qualify ourselves to imagine great wonders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/when-we-accept-small-wonders-we-qualify-ourselves-to-imagine-great/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) [Explore all 994 Tom Robbins quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) ## More Arithmetic quotes > [To divide one's life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/to-divide-one-s-life-by-years-is-of-course-to-tumble-into-a-trap-set/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) > [Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head to your hand to your pencil to your paper till you get the answer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/arithmetic-is-numbers-you-squeeze-from-your-head-to-your-hand-to-your/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [I am pretty good at arithmetic, and I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight. But we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-merkley/i-am-pretty-good-at-arithmetic-and-i-know-that-the-fight-in-front-of/) [Jeff Merkley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-merkley/) > [Arithmetic has began to totter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gottlob-frege/arithmetic-has-began-to-totter/) [Gottlob Frege](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gottlob-frege/) > [Economics is half psychology and half Grade Three arithmetic, and the U.S. does not now have either half right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-black/economics-is-half-psychology-and-half-grade-three-arithmetic-and-the/) [Conrad Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-black/) > [The cumulative weight of all mortal sins--past, present, and future--pressed upon that perfect, sinless, and sensitive Soul! All our infirmities and sicknesses were somehow,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-a-maxwell/the-cumulative-weight-of-all-mortal-sins-past-present-and-future/) [Neal A. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-a-maxwell/) > [Geometry, like arithmetic, requires for its logical development only a small number of simple, fundamental principles. These fundamental principles are called the axioms of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hilbert/geometry-like-arithmetic-requires-for-its-logical-development-only-a/) [David Hilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hilbert/) > [When I was at school, I was terrible at algebra and arithmetic, but I was always the best at English and literature. And acting,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-collins/when-i-was-at-school-i-was-terrible-at-algebra-and-arithmetic-but-i/) [Joan Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-collins/) > [“A goal of this book has been to tear down in some small part these barriers to understanding by attempting to shatter the “divinity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-arnell-williams/a-goal-of-this-book-has-been-to-tear-down-in-some-small-part-these/) [G. Arnell Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-arnell-williams/) > [Man is a rational animal—so at least I have been told. … Aristotle, so far as I know, was the first man to proclaim…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/man-is-a-rational-animal-so-at-least-i-have-been-told-aristotle-so/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [The mortal enemies of Social Security and Medicare are those who, in contempt of the plain arithmetic, continue to mislead Americans that we should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-daniels/the-mortal-enemies-of-social-security-and-medicare-are-those-who-in/) [Mitch Daniels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-daniels/) > [Arithmetic arithmetock Turn the hands back on the clock How does the ocean rock the boat? How did the razor find my throat? The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/arithmetic-arithmetock-turn-the-hands-back-on-the-clock-how-does-the/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [Long before I learned to do a sum in arithmetic or describe the shape of the earth, Miss Sullivan had taught me to find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keller/long-before-i-learned-to-do-a-sum-in-arithmetic-or-describe-the-shape/) [Helen Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keller/) > [Arithmetic starts with the integers and proceeds by successively enlarging the number system by rational and negative numbers, irrational numbers, etc... But the next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-robinson/arithmetic-starts-with-the-integers-and-proceeds-by-successively/) [Abraham Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-robinson/) > [The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gottfried-leibniz/the-pleasure-we-obtain-from-music-comes-from-counting-but-counting/) [Gottfried Leibniz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gottfried-leibniz/) [Browse all 233 Arithmetic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arithmetic/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The loony legacy of money was that the arithmetic by which things were measured had become more valuable than the things themselves.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tom Robbins" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-arithmetic-by-which-things/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Arithmetic" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-arithmetic-by-which-things/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/038/tom-robbins-169_arithmetic_the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-a_268325.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/038/tom-robbins-169_arithmetic_the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-a_268325.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/038/tom-robbins-169_arithmetic_the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-a_268325.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The loony legacy of money was that the arithmetic by which things were measured had become more valuable…” — Tom Robbins", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Tom Robbins", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The loony legacy of money was...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-arithmetic-by-which-things/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-loony-legacy-of-money-was-that-the-arithmetic-by-which-things/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```