Voltaire: Comfort & Abundance of Poor

Posted by admin on Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Money Quotation – It takes light to know darkness and opposites do attract, but sometimes they clash as in the case of wealth and poverty. Voltaire said:
 

 

“The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor” — Voltaire

 

 

Voltaire is pointing out that the wealthy rely on the existence of poorer classes of people in order to maintain their comfortable lifestyle. If there were no poor, there would be no one to perform low-paying jobs that support the rich, such as servants, manual laborers, etc.

So Voltaire is arguing that the rich benefit from and depend on having a large population of poor people who are able and willing to work for low wages. In other words, inequality between the rich and poor is what allows the rich to live so comfortably according to Voltaire.