Percy Bysshe Shelley: Generous Broker
on Thursday, January 28, 2021Percy Bysshe Shelley Money Quote saying it seems unusual that the person most generous is one least expected, a broker. Percy Bysshe Shelley said:
“It is not odd that the only generous person I ever knew, who had money to be generous with, should be a stockbroker?” — Percy Bysshe Shelley
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In this quote, Percy Bysshe Shelley is commenting humorously on his surprise at encountering a generous stockbroker. By describing it as “not odd” but phrasing it as a question,
Shelley suggests it is actually quite unusual to find someone in the stockbroking profession, which can often emphasize profit and wealth accumulation, displaying true generosity with their financial means.
The quote implies Shelley viewed stockbrokers as typically more focused on personal gain than giving to others. By singling out this individual stockbroker as “the only generous person” he knew who also had money to spare, Shelley emphasizes that in his experience, possessing wealth did not commonly go hand in hand with open-handed generosity.
Overall, the quote wryly points out the irony Shelley found in a stockbroker of all people breaking the mold of his expectations for their profession through genuinely generous behavior.