September 2: People are made unhappy not by poverty

People are made unhappy not by poverty, but by the thirst for riches. Where there is a cause, its effect will appear; and were affluence the cause of immorality, and poverty the cause of degradation, then every rich person would become immoral, and every poor person would come to degradation.

An evil-doer will commit evil under any circumstances, whether rich or poor, or midway between the two conditions. A right-doer will do right however they are placed. Extreme circumstances may help to bring out the evil that is already there awaiting its opportunity, but they cannot cause the evil, cannot create it.

Poverty is more often in the mind than in the purse. So long as a person thirsts for more money, they will regard themselves as poor, and in that sense they are poor, for covetousness is poverty of mind. A miser may be a millionaire, but they are as poor as when they were penniless.