What a peculiar civilisation this was: inordinately rich, yet inclined to accrue its wealth through the sale of some astonishingly small and only distantly meaningful things, a civilisation torn and unable sensibly to adjudicate between the worthwhile ends to which money might be put and the often morally trivial and destructive mechanisms of its generation.

~ Alain De Botton

Alain De Botton Civilization Material Goods Meaning Money Things Triviality Wealth

The way to misuse our possessions is to use them as an insurance against the morrow. Anxiety is always directed to the morrow, whereas goods are in the strictest sense meant to be used only for to-day.

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Anxiety Dependence On God Faith Insurance Material Goods Possessions Today Tomorrow Trust Worry

[I]t is things that make us happy when conversation begins to reveal itself as a paltry substitute.

~ Rick Moody

Rick Moody Conversation Happiness Material Goods Things