Armaments, universal debt and planned obsolescence — those are the three pillars of Western prosperity. – Aldous Huxley, Island

When prosperity comes, do not use all of it. – Confucius

Human prosperity never rests but always craves more, till blown up with pride it totters and falls. From the opulent mansions pointed at by all passers-by none warns it away, none cries, “Let no more riches enter!” – Aeschylus

Luxury… corrupts at once rich and poor, the rich by possession and the poor by covetousness. – Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1762