“Like all misers he had a constant need to pit his wits against those of other men, to mulct them of their crowns by fair legal means. To get the better of others, was that not exercising power, giving oneself with each new victim the right to despise those weaklings of the earth who were unable to save themselves from being devoured? Oh! Has anyone properly understood the meaning of the lamb lying peacefully at God’s feet – that most touching symbol of all the victims of this world – and of their future, the symbol of which is suffering and weakness glorified? The miser lets the lamb grow fat, then he pens, kills, cooks, eats and despises it. Misers thrive on money and contempt.”” – Honoré de Balzac, Eugénie Grandet

The above passage comes from Honoré de Balzac’s novel Eugénie Grandet. I came upon the quote through Matthew Sitman’s and Sam Adler-Bell’s great podcast Know Your Enemy. It’s definitely worth checking out both the novel and the show. And by they way, it’s also worth doing all you can to not become a miser!

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Painting above: Hieronymus-Bosch, Death and The Miser

Tags:Adler-BellBalzaccapitalismknow your enemymisersmoneySitman