Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants.
Franklin here isn't simply warning against greed—he's anatomizing a peculiar human mechanism: that satisfaction itself becomes the problem. The appetite doesn't merely grow; it *mutates*, transforming money from a tool into a kind of existential treadmill where each rung makes the next one feel insufficient. A person earning $50,000 longing for $100,000 isn't irrational; they're trapped in a comparison machine their own mind built, one that keeps resetting the baseline of "enough." This explains why lottery winners often report no lasting contentment, why the wealthy fret over relative standing—the goalpost moves because the human heart measures itself against others, not against reality.
“Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.”
Tony Hsieh“It's not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
Seneca“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”
Ayn Rand“Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want to impress people they...”
Will Rogers