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All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to appear rich.

— Johann Kaspar Lavater Aphorisms on Man (1788)

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More quotes by Johann Kaspar Lavater

Let none turn over books, or roam the stars in quest of God, who sees him not in man.

Aphorisms on Man (1788)

Where there is much pretension, much has been borrowed — nature never pretends.

Aphorisms on Man (1788)

If you see one cold and vehement at the same time, set him down for a fanatic.

Aphorisms on Man (1788)

Good can be done by the bad — but the good alone can be good.

The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint — the affectation of sanctity is a blotch on the face of piety.

Aphorisms on Man (1788)

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We spend our lives fighting to get people very slightly more stupid than ourselves to accept truths that the great men have always known.

Doris Lessing The Golden Notebook (1962)

It is better to be poor and walk in integrity than to be stupid and speak lies.

Solomon

If a poor person envies a rich person, he is no better than the rich person.

Leo Tolstoy

The poor, by thinking unceasingly of money, reach the point of losing the spiritual advantages of non-possession, thereby sinking as low as the rich.

Emil Cioran The Trouble With Being Born (1973)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Johann Kaspar Lavater (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.