[Luxury] corrupts both rich and poor, the rich by having it and the poor by wanting it.

All luxury corrupts either the morals or the taste.

Luxury, nowadays, is ruinous. We criticize, but must conform, and superfluities in the end deprive us of necessities.

All intense interest in luxury is a mark of inner poverty. The less grace there is in the soul, the more ornament must be on the body.

Luxury is the opposite of the naturally necessary.

Luxury
Employ'd a Million of the Poor,
And odious Pride a Million more;
Envy it self, and Vanity,
Were Ministers of Industry;
Their darling Folly, Fickleness,
In Diet, Furniture and Dress,
That strange ridic'lous Vice, was made
The very Wheel that turn'd the Trade.

le luxe est l'effet des richesses, ou il les rend nécessaires; il corrompt à la fois le riche et le pauvre, l'un par la possession, l'autre par la convoitise; il vend la patrie à la mollesse, à la vanité; il ôte à l'Etat tous ses citoyens pour les asservir les uns aux autres, et tous à l’opinion.

It is the consumers who make poor people rich and rich people poor.

Luxury, that baneful poison, has unstrung and enfeebled her sons.

Such refinements, under the odious name of luxury, have been severely arraigned by the moralists of every age; and it might perhaps be more conducive to the virtue, as well as happiness, of mankind, if all possessed the necessaries, and none the superfluities, of life. But in the present imperfect condition of society, luxury, though it may proceed from vice or folly, seems to be the only means that can correct the unequal distribution of property. The diligent mechanic, and the skilful artist, who have obtained no share in the division of the earth, receive a voluntary tax from the possessors of land; and the latter are prompted, by a sense of interest, to improve those estates, with whose produce they may purchase additional pleasures.

The state is suffering from two opposite vices, avarice and luxury; two plagues which, in the past, have been the ruin of every great empire.

Yes,' she said, 'the rich rob the poor, and the poor rob one another.

The rich prided themselves upon their superiority to those who were less favored; but they had obtained their riches by violation of the law of God. They had neglected to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to deal justly, and to love mercy. They had sought to exalt themselves and to obtain the homage of their fellow creatures. ... They have sold their souls for earthly riches and enjoyments, and have not sought to become rich toward God. The result is, their lives are a failure; their pleasures are now turned to gall, their treasures to corruption.

Poverty makes a crime of every indulgence.