Money plays an important role in life by providing opportunities for a better lifestyle and allowing individuals to exercise control over their lives.
It can deliver an exciting lifestyle, luxurious items and even fleeting happiness, but its availability is often limited and its capacity to bring happiness is restricted.
In a world devoid of free cash, most of us operate within budgets.
However, gaining control over your finances empowers you to take charge of your life, providing an essential sense of freedom.
A curated selection of money-related quotes has been compiled to inspire you and potentially transform your understanding and relationship with money.
These hand-picked phrases aim to stimulate thought about financial matters and inspire greater control and perspective over one’s financial situation.
Inspiring Money Quotes
1. “A penny saved is a penny earned.” ~ Benjamin Franklin.
2. “Invest in as much of yourself as you can, you are your own biggest asset by far.” ~ Warren Buffett
3. “Money can’t buy happiness, but it will certainly get you a better class of memories.” ~ Ronald Reagan
4. “Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune.” ~ Jim Rohn
5. “The rich invest their money and spend what is left; the poor spend their money and invest what is left.” ~ Jim Rohn
6. “Money is not the most important thing in the world. Love is. Fortunately, I love money.” ~ Jackie Mason
7. “Never depend on a single income. Make investment to create a second source.” ~ Warren Buffett
8. “Never spend your money before you have earned it.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
9. “It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for.” ~ Robert T. Kiyosaki
10. “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” ~ Jonathan Nolan.
Great Money Quotes
11. “If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.” ~ Bill Gates
12. “Money is a great servant but a bad master.” ~ Francis Bacon
13. “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.” ~ Warren Buffett
14. “The money you have gives you freedom; the money you pursue enslaves you.” ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau
15. “Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth.” ~ Mike Tyson
16. “I refuse to apologize for my ability – I refuse to apologize for my success – I refuse to apologize for my money. If this is evil, make the most of it.” ~ Ayn Rand
17. “Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.” ~ Donald Trump
18. “Chase the vision, not the money. The money will end up following you.” ~ Tony Hsieh
19. “Money can’t buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.” ~ Spike Milligan.
20. “Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason.” ~ Ayn Rand
21. “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
22. “Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not.” ~ John Kenneth Galbraith
23. “Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try. Before you retire, save. Before you die, give.” ~ William Arthur Ward.
Inspirational Money Quotes
24. “The Stock Market is designed to transfer money from the Active to the Patient.” ~ Warren Buffett
25. “You aren’t wealthy until you have something money can’t buy.” ~ Garth Brooks
26. “It’s simple arithmetic: “Your income can grow only to the extent you do.”” ~ T. Harv Eker
27. “The way to stop financial joyriding is to arrest the chauffeur, not the automobile.” ~ Woodrow Wilson
28. “Success is having to worry about every damn thing in the world, except money.” ~ Johnny Cash
29. “Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.” ~ Will Smith
30. “Where large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody.” ~ Agatha Christie
31. “My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” ~ Steve Jobs
32. “Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue.” ~ Ayn Rand
33. “If you make a living, if you earn your own money, you’re free – however free one can be on this planet.” ~ Theodore White
34. “We go to school to learn to work hard for money. I write books and create products that teach people how to have money work hard for them.” ~ Robert Kiyosaki
35. “To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.” ~ Douglas Adams
36. “Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.” ~ Wayne W. Dyer
37. “They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.” ~ Khalil Gibran.
Powerful Money Quotes
38. “Cocaine is God’s way of telling you you are making too much money.” ~ Robin Williams
39. “There is a gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.” ~ Marlene Dietrich
40. “The thing that differentiates man from animals is money.” ~ Gertrude Stein
41. “The lack of money is the root of all evil.” ~ Mark Twain
42. “Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one” ~ Benjamin Franklin
43. “Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” ~ Ayn Rand
44. “It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” ~ George Lorimer
45. “I made my money the old-fashioned way. I was very nice to a wealthy relative right before he died.” ~ Malcolm Forbes
46. “Try to save something while your salary is small; it’s impossible to save after you begin to earn more.” ~ Jack Benny
47. “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” ~ Henry Ford
48. “I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.” ~ Henry Miller
49. “Money is the alienated essence of man’s work and existence; this essence dominates him and he worships it.” ~ Karl Marx.
Related: Financial Wisdom Quotes to Boost Your Money Mindset and Money Talks Quotes and Sayings about Money
Famous Money Quotes
50. “Every time you borrow money, you’re robbing your future self.” ~ Nathan W. Morris
51. “Never spend your money before you have it.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
52. “The Stock Market is designed to transfer money from the Active to the Patient.” ~ Warren Buffett
53. “I’d like to live as a poor man with lots of money.” ~ Pablo Picasso
54. “Fortune sides with him who dares.” ~ Virgil
55. “A fool and his money are soon parted.” ~ Thomas Tusser
56. “A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.” ~ Bob Hope
57. “The safe way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket.” ~ Kin Hubbard
58. “That money talks, I’ll not deny, I heard it once: It said, ‘Goodbye’.” ~ Richard Armour
59. “Money makes your life easier. If you’re lucky to have it, you’re lucky.” ~ Al Pacino
60. “Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.” ~ Nelson Mandela
61. “Men make counterfeit money; in many more cases, money makes counterfeit men.” ~ Sydney J. Harris
62. “Art for art’s sake, money for God’s sake.” ~ Simon Raven
63. “The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.” ~ Confucius
64. “Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire.” ~ Oprah Winfrey.
Top Money Quotes
65. “So many people of wealth understand much more about making and saving money than about using and enjoying it. They fail to live because they are always preparing to live.” ~ Alan Watts
66. “There was a time when a fool and his money were soon parted, but now it happens to everybody.” ~ Adlai Stevenson I
67. “Money’s a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet.” ~ Henry James
68. “Money is to my social existence what health is to my body.” ~ Mason Cooley
69. “Very few people can afford to be poor.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
70. “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” ~ Jim Rohn
71. “A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.” ~ Bob Hope
72. “A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart.” ~ Jonathan Swift
73. “I will tell you the secret to getting rich on Wall Street. You try to be greedy when others are fearful. And you try to be fearful when others are greedy.” ~ Warren Buffett
74. “I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for ten years.” ~ Warren Buffett.
You Might Like
Definition and Evolution of Money
Money serves as a system of value facilitating the exchange of goods, reducing transaction costs compared to bartering.
Initially, items like grain or livestock acted as money due to their high demand.
Over time, money evolved into more standardized forms controlled by central banks, including precious metals, stamped coins, and eventually digital forms like cryptocurrencies.
Functions and Properties of Money
Money functions primarily as a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a unit of account. Effective money must be fungible, durable, portable, recognizable and stable.
These properties ensure that money can be easily exchanged without excessive transaction costs and retain its value over time.
Money in Practice
Historical forms of money include commodities, market-determined money like gold and government-issued currencies.
Modern economies also utilize fiat currency, which is valued by government decree and not backed by physical commodities.
The stability of fiat money is crucial for maintaining economic balance and facilitating international trade.
Alternatives and Innovations in Money
Money substitutes like bills of exchange and fiduciary media help reduce the need to carry large amounts of currency.
Cryptocurrencies represent a digital innovation in money, functioning without central authority and used for online transactions, although they are not universally accepted as legal tender.
Types and Stability of Money
There are four main types of money: commodity-based, government-issued currency, fiat currency, and money substitutes.
The stability of money is essential to prevent inflation or deflation, which can destabilize economies.
Hard money like gold is less susceptible to inflation, while soft money and cryptocurrencies carry more risks due to their lack of physical backing.
Top Questions about Money
A: Money is a medium of exchange that helps people and businesses acquire necessary goods and services. Previously, bartering allowed people to exchange goods for other goods. Money, like gold, is valued because it represents something valuable to most people.
A: The desire to earn money motivates people to seek higher-paying jobs or work longer hours. It can also drive individuals to pursue careers in well-compensated fields such as medicine or law, encouraging them to work harder and increase productivity.
A: While money can motivate to an extent, studies show that beyond a certain income level, money ceases to be the primary motivator for harder work, loyalty, or engagement. It primarily satisfies the basic needs at the bottom of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
A: The Lydians, around 700 B.C., were the first Western culture to create coins. This innovation was quickly adopted by other countries and civilizations, which began minting coins with specific values, simplifying trade and the valuation of goods and services.
A: Money is essential because it provides security and safety. It enables individuals to afford life’s necessities like shelter, food, healthcare, and education, which are vital for sustaining life.
A: Money is not the ultimate goal of life; it is a means to an end. It should never be considered the end itself. Reflecting on life, people rarely regret not dedicating more time to accumulating money but often regret not spending enough time with loved ones or damaging relationships for financial gain.
A: The term “money” originated in the 14th century from the Latin word “moneta.” This name was associated with the Roman goddess Juno, near whose temple in Rome the first coins were minted around 300 BCE.
