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Money. It has been said that money makes the world go around. I am not sure that money is truly has that level of importance, but having money does make life easier.
We all need money. We all want money. And most of us feel we don’t have enough of it.
This post is a collection of 89 motivational money quotes. These wise quotes about money are meant to inspire you to go the extra mile to earn more money or to give you some financial wisdom to help you keep hold of what money you have.
Table of Contents
Quotes About Money and Love
Love and money are often talked about together, placed as opposites. Since long before the Beatles first sang, “Can’t buy me love” people have been saying that money cannot purchase either love or happiness. (And if you're looking to learn how to increase your happiness, then I recommend this book.)
While it is certainly true that money alone will never make someone fall in love or guarantee happiness. Having money in a relationship does not hurt a relationship, or hurt your happiness.
The flip side is true too. Lack of money, being broke, and constant worry over how to pay the bills does indeed put significant stress on both relationships and happiness. Lack of money can easily end both.
So money can’t buy love or happiness. But it sure doesn’t hurt it. 🙂
If you want to be happier study the habits of happy people. Or learn to find happiness within yourself. Or even read some books on happiness.
Or perhaps, if you are constantly broke, get inspired by some of these motivational money quotes that can give you the inspiration to earn or save a few extra bucks.
(Also: If you're looking to save a little cash each month, then check out this blog post where we feature 16 money-saving apps and websites.)
Let’s dig in to these money quotes.
- “Money is like love; it kills slowly and painfully the one who withholds it, and enlivens the other who turns it on his fellow human.” – Kahlil Gibran
- “For I don’t care too much for money, for money can’t buy me love.”— The Beatles
- “It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy.”— George Lorimer
- “Love conquers all things except poverty and toothache.”- Mae West
- “Love is like money… hard to find easy to lose.”— Ally Mbululo
“Love is like money… hard to find easy to lose.”— Ally Mbululo
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- “Money and women are the most sought after and the least known about of any two things we have.”— Will Rogers
- “Money is not the most important thing in the world. Love is. Fortunately, I love money.”— Jackie Mason
- “While money doesn’t buy love, it puts you in a great bargaining position.” -Christopher Marlowe
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”— Amy Carmichael
- “On what he’s spent the most money on: In the ’70s it was skateboards, in the ’80s it was drugs, in the ’90s it was art, and now it’s my family.”— Anthony Kiedis Maxim
- “Take a better stand. Put money in my mom's hand. Get my daughter this college plan, so she don’t need no man.”— Biggie
RELATED: Habits that Stick!
Want to build a new habit that will stick for the rest of your lifetime? In this video, you will discover a simple 9-step process about building habits that you can immediately implement.
Quotes About Saving Money for the Future
Any sound financial plan will tell you about the need to save for your future. Between retirement and the possibility of some future disaster that could put a strain on your finances it is important to plan for the future.
The quotes about money shared below give you some pithy examples of the need to save some money for the future.
- “A simple fact that is hard to learn is that the time to save money is when you have some.” – Joe Moore
- “If you're saving, you're succeeding.”― Steve Burkholder
- “It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for.”— Robert Kiyosaki
- “If you wish to get rich, save what you get. A fool can earn money, but it takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage.”― Brigham Young
The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it in your back pocket.” – Will Rogers
- “The way to stop financial joyriding is to arrest the chauffeur, not the automobile.”— Woodrow Wilson
- “The habit of saving is itself an education; it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind.”— T.T. Munger
- “Waste your money and you're only out of money, but waste your time and you've lost a part of your life.”— Michael Leboeuf
- “If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “Try to save something while your salary is small; it’s impossible to save after you begin to earn more.”— Jack Benny
- “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”— Mark Twain
- “Know what you own, and know why you own it.”— Peter Lynch
Financial peace isn't the acquisition of stuff. It's learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can't win until you do this.”— Dave Ramsey
- “Every time you borrow money, you're robbing your future self.” – Nathan W. Morris
- “Frugality includes all the other virtues.”— Cicero
- “That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.”— Henry David Thoreau
- “Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value.”— Joe Biden
Never spend your money before you have earned it.” – Thomas Jefferson
If you want to learn more about the actual mechanics of how to invest your money for the future. You are going to need a little bit more than a few pithy money quotes. You will want some actual books about saving and investing for the future.
That's why we recommend checking out our top recommended books for the different aspects of making and saving money:
- The 24 Best Personal Finance Books
- The 17 Best Budgeting and Frugal Living Books
- The 33 Best Entrepreneurship Books
- The 18 Best Retirement Planning Books
- The 16 Best Real Estate Investing Books
Money Making Quotes
These motivational money making quotes are designed to get you out there trying to make a few extra bucks.
These are money quotes that are primarily inspirational. But these motivational money quotes are also designed to impart a little bit of wisdom and knowledge about the best ways to successfully make money.
Let’s face facts, however. It is hard to earn more money unless you start some sort of a side hustle.
You can improve at your career, and ultimately make more money. But it is nothing that is instant.
All the good money quotes in the world are not going to magically make your boss start paying you more without a good reason.
The point is that if you need more money as soon as possible, the best way to get it is by improving your financial habits, not trying to increase how much you earn. To learn more, here are 11 habits you can build to improve your financial situation.
- “Do what you love and the money will follow.”— Marsha Sinetar
- “Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try. Before you retire, save. Before you die, give.”— William A. Ward
- “Fortune sides with him who dares.”― Virgil
- “If you don't value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents. Value what you know & start charging for it.” – Kim Garst
- “What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.”— Julia Cameron
- “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”— Bruce Lee
- “I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages.”— Robert Bosch
Rich people have small TVs and big libraries, and poor people have small libraries and big TVs.”— Zig Ziglar
- “Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought.” – Napoleon Hill
- “Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.”— Paul Samuelson
- “Money can’t buy friends, but you can get a better class of enemy.”— Spike Milligan
- “The more you learn, the more you earn.” – Frank Clark
- “Put all good eggs in one basket and then watch that basket.”— Andrew Carnegie
- “Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.”— Samuel Butler
- “Many folks think they aren’t good at earning money when what they don’t know is how to use it.”— Frank A. Clark
Persist – don’t take no for an answer. If you’re happy to sit at your desk and not take any risk, you’ll be sitting at your desk for the next 20 years.” – David Rubenstein
- “Money grows on the tree of persistence.”— Japanese Proverb
- “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”— Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Making money isn't hard in itself… What's hard is to earn it doing something worth devoting one's life to.”― Carlos Ruiz Zafón
(Side bar: If you'd like “automate your money-saving efforts, then I recommend downloading this fun, money-saving app.)
Quotes About Money and Life
Is money bad or good?
It is neither. Really, the only “true” thing about the goodness or badness of money is how you acquire it and what you do with it once you have it.
In the motivational money quotes below we have some strong opinions about the proper uses of money. These money quotes give you some good ideas on how to view your money from the “proper” perspective.
- “Money does not dictate your lifestyle. it's what you do to get it and how you manage your finances that determines your lifestyle.” – Wayne Chirisa
- “There is a gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.”— Marlene Dietrich
- “Money is power, freedom, a cushion, the root of all evil, the sum of blessings.”— Carl Sandburg
- “It's a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money.”— Albert Camus
Money can’t buy happiness, but it will certainly get you a better class of memories.”— Ronald Reagan
- “Wealth is not about having a lot of money; it's about having a lot of options.” – Chris Rock
- “Money is like muck—not good unless it is spread.”— Francis Bacon
- “Christmas is the season when you buy this year’s gifts with next year’s money.”— Unknown
- “Money is a guarantee that we may have what we want in the future. Though we need nothing at the moment it insures the possibility of satisfying a new desire when it arises.”— Aristotle
- “You can be young without money, but you can't be old without it.” – Tennessee Williams
- “There are only two paths to happiness in life. Utter Stupidity or Exceptional Wealth.”― Ziad K. Abdelnour
People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.”— Joan Rivers
- “It's easier to feel a little more spiritual with a couple of bucks in your pocket.”― Craig Ferguson
- “A man is rich in proportion to the things he can afford to let alone.” – Henry David Thoreau
Money Isn't Everything Quotes
In the section before we had a lot of money quotes telling us the power of money. And how it can be a force for good.
This section is exactly the opposite. Many of the money quotes below view the unchecked acquisition of money in a bad light.
They point out how money does not mean as much as the arbitrary value that many people place on it. They show the shortcomings of money and how little money matters in the grand scheme of things.
- “Money can't buy time, happiness, inner peace, integrity, love, character, manners, health, respect, morals, trust, patience, trust, class, common sense, dignity.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”— Benjamin Franklin
- “There are people who have money and people who are rich.”— Coco Chanel
- “The reason why we have never found a measure of wealth. We never sought it.”– George Samuel Clason
- “If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.”— Earl Wilson
If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.”— Earl Wilson
- “A treasure is to be valued for its own sake and not for what it will buy.”— Graham Greene
- “Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.”— Henry David Thoreau
- “I don’t want to make money. I just want to be wonderful.”— Marilyn Monroe
- “A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.” – Jonathan Swift
- “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.”— Maya Angelou
- “The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”— Phillip Fisher
Money cannot buy peace of mind. It cannot heal ruptured relationships, or build meaning into a life that has none.”— Richard M. DeVos
- “Not having money to spend doesn’t mean we can’t have well-spent moments every day.” – Sarah Ban Breathnach
- “The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.”— Thomas Jefferson
- “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”— Winston Churchill
Quotes About Money and Greed
Finally, we come to the crowd of opinions that revolve around a truly negative view of money. How the lack of money can disadvantage any, while the unbridled quest for money can cause people to lose focus of the things that matter in life. And even cause them to lose focus on their money.
Let’s get to these money quotes and see a bit of the dark side of earning money.
- “They who are of the opinion that money will do everything may very well be suspected to do everything for money.” — George Savile
- “Money poisons you when you've got it, and starves you when you haven't.”— D.H. Lawrence
- “This would be a much better world if more married couples were as deeply in love as they are in debt.”— Earl Wilson
- “Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.” -Mahatma Gandhi
You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.”— Dave Ramsey
- “Make money your god, and it will plague you like the devil.”— Henry Fielding
- “It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake.”— Margaret Thatcher
- “Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.”— Norman Vincent Peale
- “Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.” – P. T. Barnum
- “No wealth can ever make a bad man at peace with himself.”— Plato
- “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”— Seneca
Final Thoughts on Money Quotes
This post is meant to be a collection of some of the best motivational money quotes. These quotes about money are meant to inspire you to improve your finances, work hard to improve your career and get out of debt (if that's a current struggle.)
These money quotes give no real guidance on how to actually earn more money. To do that you will need to read a lot more.
First of all, you will certainly need to create sound money habits.
Check out this post for some ideas on improving your money habits.
Secondly, you will want to read up on the best ways to live frugally. By spending less, and spending wiser you can greatly increase savings. To learn more, check out these books on frugal living.
Third, if you want to simplify the process of saving and investing your money, then I recommend checking out our review of the 17 money-saving apps and websites.
I hope you enjoyed the motivational money quotes on this page. Hopefully, they gave you that tiny push of motivation to make some changes for the better.
No matter how good with money you are, there is always room to make improvements.
And if you want more eye-opening quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- Best Financial Quotes: 15 Awesome Finance Quote Pictures from Pinterest
- 55 Hustle Quotes to Inspire Your Hard Work
- 115 Work Ethic Quotes to Motivate Your Efforts
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then watch this free video that details the 7-minute habit for planning your day to focus on what's truly important to you..
