Thomas Carlyle, 1843 (writing of England, but his words could easily be applied to present-day America)
“
This successful industry of England, with its plethoric wealth…which of us has it enriched? We have sumptuous garnitures for our life, but have forgotten to live in the middle of them. Many men eat finer cookery, drink dearer liquors, but in the heart of them, what increase of blessedness is there? Are they happier, beautifuller, stronger, braver? Are they even what they call ‘happier’? Do they look with satisfaction on more things and human faces in this God’s Earth; do more things and human faces look with satisfaction on them? Not so…We have profoundly forgotten everywhere that cash-payment is not the sole relation of human beings.
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