Cosimo de’ Medici: Spend Pleasure
on Wednesday, January 16, 2019Cosimo de’ Medici Money Quote saying that spending enjoyment beats earning. Known as God’s banker, because his family ran what became the official bank of the Catholic Church on January 16 in 1412. Cosimo de’ Medici said:
“For fifty years, I have done nothing else but earn money and spend money; and it became clear that spending money gives me greater pleasure than earning it” — Cosimo de’ Medici
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In this quote, Cosimo de’ Medici seems to be reflecting on his experience accumulating great wealth over many decades as a banker and merchant in Florence. Some key points:
- He notes that for 50 years, his primary activities were earning money through his business dealings and financial ventures.
- However, de’ Medici states that spending his vast riches on things he enjoyed brought him greater satisfaction than the act of earning/accumulating money itself.
- This implies that while the pursuit of profit and deals was challenging work, he took the most pleasure from lavishly using his fortunes on real estate, art, politics and pleasures later in life.
- De’ Medici seems to be conveying that the joy was more in spending and experiencing luxuries, rather than the process of wealth generation through his banking empire.
Overall, the quote provides insight into how de’ Medici, after a lifetime at the top of commerce, found the most fulfillment had come from extravagantly using his fortunes rather than the labor of building them in the first place through his financial dealings.
Birthday: September 27, 1389 – August 1, 1464