"If thou be industrious to procure wealth, be generous in the disposal of it. Man never is so happy as when he giveth happiness unto another"
About this Quote
Bulwer-Lytton’s line is a Victorian bargain dressed up as moral counsel: go ahead, chase money - just don’t let it turn you into a miser. The phrasing matters. “If thou be industrious to procure wealth” doesn’t scold ambition; it legitimizes it, even sanctifies it with that quasi-biblical “thou.” Wealth isn’t condemned as vulgar commerce but recast as something earned through diligence, a virtue legible to a society trying to reconcile Christian ethics with industrial capitalism.
Then comes the pivot: “be generous in the disposal of it.” “Disposal” is cold, almost administrative, as if money is a substance you must manage responsibly once it’s accumulated. That word choice hints at the era’s obsession with stewardship and respectability: riches are acceptable when they circulate through sanctioned channels of charity, patronage, and public good - not when they sit idle, or worse, announce themselves as pure self-indulgence.
The second sentence tightens the screw with a claim about happiness rather than duty. “Man never is so happy” is absolute, sweeping, and strategic: it sells generosity as self-interest upgraded into virtue. The subtext is a political one, too. As a politician writing in a century of widening inequality and social unrest, Bulwer-Lytton offers a stabilizing ethic: the wealthy can keep the system, but they should lubricate it with benevolence. Give happiness “unto another,” and you don’t just earn moral credit; you buy social peace, and perhaps a cleaner conscience, while the underlying machinery stays intact.
Then comes the pivot: “be generous in the disposal of it.” “Disposal” is cold, almost administrative, as if money is a substance you must manage responsibly once it’s accumulated. That word choice hints at the era’s obsession with stewardship and respectability: riches are acceptable when they circulate through sanctioned channels of charity, patronage, and public good - not when they sit idle, or worse, announce themselves as pure self-indulgence.
The second sentence tightens the screw with a claim about happiness rather than duty. “Man never is so happy” is absolute, sweeping, and strategic: it sells generosity as self-interest upgraded into virtue. The subtext is a political one, too. As a politician writing in a century of widening inequality and social unrest, Bulwer-Lytton offers a stabilizing ethic: the wealthy can keep the system, but they should lubricate it with benevolence. Give happiness “unto another,” and you don’t just earn moral credit; you buy social peace, and perhaps a cleaner conscience, while the underlying machinery stays intact.
Quote Details
| Topic | Kindness |
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