P.T. Barnum

The real sting of Barnum's observation lies in what it refuses to do—it doesn't condemn money itself, which most moralizing about wealth attempts. Instead, he identifies a precise failure of character: the person who reverses the proper relationship, making themselves subordinate to their accounts rather than the reverse. Watch how a sudden inheritance ruins some families while others use the same windfall to buy themselves freedom, and you'll see exactly what he means—the difference isn't the money, but who's working for whom.