Get Sorted: Comparison, thief of joy

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So much of what we say about money shows how we think about it, and of course how we think about it influences how we act with it. There are some great money quotes out there, and a lot of incredibly insightful things have been said.

Take my latest favourite from Theodore Roosevelt, "Comparison is the thief of joy". So true. It helps explain why NZ Super gets fewer complaints than it might — everyone gets the same amount at the same age. No quibbling there.

Here are some other greats, but feel free to pitch in any of your own favourites you've found.

Thinking about money

Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.
- Francis Bacon

Sometimes it's better to spend one hour thinking about money than to spend a week working for it.
- André Kostolany

Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.
- Ayn Rand

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest... The only thing that is more expensive than education is ignorance.
- Benjamin Franklin

Money or wealth?

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
- Winston Churchill

Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.
- Henry David Thoreau

Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time.
- Margaret Bonanno

If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough.
- Vicki Robin

I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money.
- Pablo Picasso

Entrepreneurship

There are two types of people in this world. Those who think they can and those who think they can't. They are both right.
- Henry Ford

Change your focus from making money to serving more people. Serving more people makes the money come in.
- Robert Kiyosaki

Investing

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
- Warren Buffett

The rich invest their money and spend what is left. The poor spend their money and invest what is left.
- Robert Kiyosaki

And finally, the last word goes to Groucho Marx:

"Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy."

Get Sorted is written by Sorted's resident blogger, Tom Hartmann. Check out the guides and tools from Sorted - brought to you by the Commission for Financial Capability - at sorted.org.nz.