"What are then, tell me, the goods that you claim to possess? To what extent are they an essential part of your life? The problem with the rich is that they are like the man who takes a seat in a theatre, and then denies entrance to others, usurping thereby, and appropriating for himself what is meant for common use. The rich regard as their own those goods that they have acquired before the others, for the sole reason of having been the first to acquire them. If each one of us took only what is necessary for his sustenance, leaving what is superfluous for the indigent, there would be no distinction of rich and poor. You have become an exploiter by appropriating for yourself the goods that you were called to administer. The bread that you keep for yourself belongs to the hungry; to the naked belong the clothes that you hoard in your closet; to the barefooted belongs the shoes that is gathering moth in your home; the indigent have a right to the money you hide in your coffers."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Basil the Great, On Avarice, on the text of Luke: "Destroy this house and I will build a large one." (Luke 12:16:21)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christian_socialism
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Christian socialism
20 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Christian socialism →
Related Quotes
"Nothing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a Socialist tinge. Has not Christianity declaimed against private…"
"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they sh…"
"You, the rich, how far will you push your frenzied greed? . . . When giving to the poor, you are not giving him what …"
"Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own go…"
"All possessions are by nature unrighteous when a man possesses them for personal advantage as being entirely his own,…"
"Every rich person is either a thief or the heir of a thief."
"Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind."
"In vain do they think themselves innocent who appropriate to their own use alone those goods which God gave in common…"
"Almost without exception, the early Christian Fathers whose teachings have come down to us spoke out fearlessly again…"
"Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this cou…"