"'But whom do I treat unjustly,' you say, 'by keeping what is my own?' Tell me, what is your own? What did you bring into this life? From where did you receive it? It is as if someone were to take the first seat in the theater, then bar everyone else from attending, so that one person alone enjoys what is offered for the benefit of all in common — this is what the rich do. They seize common goods before others have the opportunity, then claim them as their own by right of preemption. For if we all took only what was necessary to satisfy our own needs, giving the rest to those who lack, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, and no one would be in need."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Basil of Caesarea, Homily 6, “I Shall Tear Down My Barns,” C. P. Schroeder, trans., in Saint Basil on Social Justice (2009), p. 69
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Capitalism
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Capitalism
269 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Capitalism →
Related Quotes
"Ignorance alone stands in the way of Socialist success. The capitalist parties understand this and use their resource…"
"We are going to have to live more economically than we do. And we can do that and, I believe we will do it more happi…"
"Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Yes? Well socialism is exactly the reverse."
"The economic impact of the UBI together with the three tax changes in the US would be roughly as follows. First, bank…"
"We live in a contradiction, a brutal state of affairs, profoundly inegalitarian – where all existence is evaluated in…"
"Trump would have us believe that these are our only two choices: We can either have smash-and-grab capitalism, where …"
"The executive director of the World Food Program is calling for the world’s billionaires to step up and help his orga…"
"The other story of capitalism, just as easily told, focuses on exploitation, violence, and unfathomable misery – it h…"
"A religion may be discerned in capitalism—that is to say, capitalism serves essentially to allay the same anxieties, …"
"Socialism is not the invention of an individual. It is essentially the outcome of economic and social conditions. The…"