The Stoics did not think money was evil, and they did not ask anyone to give it all away. Their point was narrower and more useful: wealth is not what makes a life good, and the craving for more of it is what causes most of the trouble. Seneca, who was rich himself, came back to it again and again. Marcus Aurelius reminded himself to hold prosperity lightly. Epictetus warned that wanting it makes people servile. Below are 18 of their lines on wealth and money, each checked word for word against a public-domain translation, with the work and section so you can read them in context.
For Epictetus's argument about never trading your integrity for money, see Never Sacrifice Integrity for Wealth, our guide to Enchiridion 24. This page is the wider set of source lines.
Seneca on wealth and money
Seneca keeps returning to one test. The question is not how much you have, but how much you want.
It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
Seneca, Letters 2.6 (trans. Richard M. Gummere)
Do you ask what is the proper limit to wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary, and, second, to have what is enough.
Seneca, Letters 2.6 (trans. Richard M. Gummere)
Poverty brought into conformity with the law of nature, is great wealth.
Seneca, Letters 4.10 (trans. Richard M. Gummere), quoting Epicurus
He who craves riches feels fear on their account. No man, however, enjoys a blessing that brings anxiety; he is always trying to add a little more. While he puzzles over increasing his wealth, he forgets how to use it.
Seneca, Letters 14.18 (trans. Richard M. Gummere)
For the fault is not in the wealth, but in the mind itself. That which had made poverty a burden to us, has made riches also a burden.
Seneca, Letters 17.12 (trans. Richard M. Gummere)
He was clear that the aim is not to get rid of money. It is to stop depending on it:
Of course I do not forbid you to possess it, but I would have you reach the point at which you possess it dauntlessly; this can be accomplished only by persuading yourself that you can live happily without it as well as with it, and by regarding riches always as likely to elude you.
Seneca, Letters 18.13 (trans. Richard M. Gummere)
he is truly great who is poor amidst riches.
Seneca, Letters 20.10 (trans. Richard M. Gummere)
these individuals have riches just as we say that we “have a fever,” when really the fever has us.
Seneca, Letters 119.12 (trans. Richard M. Gummere)
consider in the first place how many more poor people there are than rich, and yet you will not find that they are sadder or more anxious than the rich
Seneca, To Helvia, On Consolation 12 (trans. Aubrey Stewart)
His critics asked how a rich man could preach against riches. In On the Happy Life he answered them directly:
Cease, then, forbidding philosophers to possess money: no one has condemned wisdom to poverty.
Seneca, On the Happy Life 23 (trans. Aubrey Stewart)
riches are slaves in the house of a wise man, but masters in that of a fool.
Seneca, On the Happy Life 26 (trans. Aubrey Stewart)
Marcus Aurelius on wealth and money
Marcus was emperor, with the wealth of Rome around him, and his notes on money are mostly reminders not to be impressed by it.
simplicity in my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 1.3 (trans. George Long), on what he learned from his mother
this Falernian is only a little grape-juice, and this purple robe some sheep’s wool dyed with the blood of a shell-fish
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.13 (trans. George Long)
Receive [wealth or prosperity] without arrogance; and be ready to let it go.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.33 (trans. George Long)
every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.3 (trans. George Long)
Epictetus on wealth and money
It is illogical to reason thus, 'I am richer than you, therefore I am superior to you'
Epictetus, Enchiridion 44 (trans. P. E. Matheson)
You are something more than property or speech.
Epictetus, Enchiridion 44 (trans. P. E. Matheson)
Remember that it is not only desire of office and of wealth that makes men abject and subservient to others
Epictetus, Discourses 4.4 (trans. P. E. Matheson)
One way to use these
- Write down your "enough". Seneca's limit in Letters 2.6 is what is necessary, then what is enough. Put a rough figure or a plain description on paper. Without one, "more" never stops.
- Practise having less. In Letters 18.5 Seneca suggests setting aside a few days to live on the plainest food and clothes, so that losing money stops being frightening. A cheap week does the same job.
- Describe it plainly. Before a big purchase, do what Marcus does in Meditations 6.13 and describe the thing as it is, without the branding. Then decide.
- Check the comparison. When you catch yourself measuring someone, including yourself, by money, use Epictetus's line from Enchiridion 44: richer means better property, not a better person.
For more sourced lines on every theme, see the main collection of Stoic quotes.
Sources
- Seneca, Letters 2.6, 4.10 (quoting Epicurus), 14.18, 17.12, 18.13, 20.10, 119.12, trans. Richard M. Gummere (Loeb, 1917 to 1925); On the Happy Life 23, 26 and To Helvia, On Consolation 12, trans. Aubrey Stewart (1889).
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 1.3, 6.13, 7.3, 8.33, trans. George Long (1862).
- Epictetus, Enchiridion 44 and Discourses 4.4, trans. P. E. Matheson (1916).
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