Possessing does Not Create Happiness

Before we set our hearts too much upon anything,
let us examine how happy they are, who already possess it.
- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

In considering the above quote, think of money, of course, but also think of power, and of possessing a physically spectacular spouse.

Not getting what you want
is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Money won't make you happy...
but everybody wants to find out for themselves.
- Zig Ziglar

Society drives people crazy with lust and calls it advertising.
- John Lahr

It is not the man who has too little,
but the man who craves more, that is poor.
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A good life isn't measured in material goods.
There is no quicker path to misery than coveting your neighbors' stuff.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Pain of Envy

Burden of Jealousy

Comparisons are Odious

Grasping at the Shadow
    

The Pain of Envy

Envy breeds hate.
- Yiddish Proverb

Envy comes from people's ignorance of,
or lack of belief in, their own gifts.
- Jean Vanier

Hatred is active, and envy passive dislike;
there is but one step from envy to hate.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is not the man who has too little,
but the man who craves more, that is poor.
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house;
you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,
nor his male servant, nor his female servant,
nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
- Exodus 20:17

The envious person grows lean
with the fatness of their neighbor.
- Socrates

Of the seven deadly sins, only envy is no fun at all.
- Joseph Epstein

Envy is the ulcer of the soul.
- Socrates

Further reading: Comparisons are Odious

Burden of Jealousy

Zero-Based Gratitude

Disappointment (Unmet Expectation)

How to Be Yourself

This God Called Money

The world has become an idolator of this god called money.
- Pope Francis

The wise man does not lay up his own treasures.
The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.
- Lao Tzu

Money has never made man happy, nor will it,
there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness.
The more of it one has, the more one wants.
- Benjamin Franklin

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money.
Money is not enough, money can be got,
but they need your hearts to love them.
So, spread your love everywhere you go.
- Mother Teresa

Jesus preached more and taught more
about helping the poor and the sick and the hungry
than he did about heaven and hell.
Shouldn't that tell us something?
- John Grisham

The love of money is the root of all evil:
which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things;
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
- Timothy 6:10-11

Further reading: More Than Money

True Riches

A Story of Money

Gleaning

Being of Service

The Least Of These

Generosity

Greed