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About this quote

What does it mean?
The author states that the enjoyment of the powerful is built on the suffering of the less fortunate.
In plain terms
Rich people enjoy life by taking advantage of poor people.
What can you take from it?
Consider the human cost behind luxury and privilege.

Where it applies

  • social justice
  • economic analysis
  • ethics

Putting it to work

  • examine sources of wealth
  • advocate for the poor

Questions to consider

  • Who benefits from your comfort?
  • Is inequality inevitable?

Another view

It presents a zero-sum view that ignores economic complexity.

More from Samuel Richardson

  1. The person who will bear much shall have much to bear, all the world through.

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  2. I am forced, as I have often said, to try to make myself laugh, that I may not cry: for one or other I must do.

    Permalink to quote #6
  3. That dangerous but too commonly received notion, that a reformed rake makes the best husband.

    Permalink to quote #3

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