Wealth 6
Almost every day, I get an email from Quotes of the Day–no, not the plug-in on my sidebar there
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This one—–> QOTD.org
These meticulously assembled emails contain four or five quotes carefully selected by a person, not a machine, around a theme (by the way, the Quotemaster does requests).
I don’t remember how long I’ve been receiving them, but it’s upwards of four or five years, I think, that the Quotemaster has reliably delivered a daily juicy nugget.
Three weeks ago, that theme was wealth. This one particularly struck me:
Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.
– Andrew Carnegie, 1835 – 1919
(You can read the entire QOTD email here.)
Carnegie actually lived those words. He gave away millions back when that was real money.
I don’t see many of today’s rich who follow his example. George Soros and Bill Gates both give away scads of money (whether you like their causes or not is irrelevant), but most of the rich who are so eager to have the estate tax eliminated seem more interested to holding on than to giving away.
Wonder what Mr. Carnegie would have to say about them.
June 11, 2006 at 8:35 pm
Fat lot of good it did him… his name is still synonymous with “robber baron”…
June 12, 2006 at 11:37 pm
I was always taught that he was a “Captain of Industry” actually.
June 13, 2006 at 8:14 pm
I’m pretty sure you can be both.
June 14, 2006 at 3:52 am
The sins of the past can’t be washed away by the water of good deeds?
June 14, 2006 at 7:22 am
I think only Catholics are eligible for that. Not sure what Carnegie was.
June 14, 2006 at 8:16 pm
I think he was a Presbyterian.
They are, of course, as defined by Ambrose Bierce, the denomination distinguished by the belief that the fathers of the church should be referred to as “Presbyters.”