"Infinitely more important than sharing one's material wealth is sharing the wealth of ourselves - our time and energy, our passion and commitment, and, above all, our love"
About this Quote
A former Treasury Secretary telling you love matters more than money isn’t a rejection of capitalism so much as an attempt to launder it with conscience. William E. Simon’s line pivots on a neat reversal: the person most associated with budgets and balance sheets insists the real “wealth” is nonfinancial. The move is rhetorically savvy. It borrows the prestige of economic language - “sharing,” “material wealth,” “infinitely more important” - then swaps the currency at the last second. By redefining wealth as time, energy, passion, commitment, and “above all, our love,” Simon makes generosity feel like a moral practice anyone can afford, not just a check-writing privilege.
The subtext is also defensive. In an era when public trust in institutions and elites was fraying, emphasizing personal giving helps reposition the powerful as human, not merely managerial. It’s a creed that fits the philanthropic boom of late-20th-century America: private virtue stepping in where public systems are contested or shrinking. “Sharing ourselves” reads as an answer to the suspicion that charity can be cold, transactional, even self-serving. You can donate money and still keep your distance; you can’t easily outsource attention.
Still, the hierarchy here (“infinitely more important”) is doing ideological work. It elevates interpersonal care in a way that can subtly downplay structural questions about who has material wealth in the first place. The quote succeeds because it offers absolution and a challenge at once: you’re not off the hook if you’re broke, and you’re not off the hook if you’re rich.
The subtext is also defensive. In an era when public trust in institutions and elites was fraying, emphasizing personal giving helps reposition the powerful as human, not merely managerial. It’s a creed that fits the philanthropic boom of late-20th-century America: private virtue stepping in where public systems are contested or shrinking. “Sharing ourselves” reads as an answer to the suspicion that charity can be cold, transactional, even self-serving. You can donate money and still keep your distance; you can’t easily outsource attention.
Still, the hierarchy here (“infinitely more important”) is doing ideological work. It elevates interpersonal care in a way that can subtly downplay structural questions about who has material wealth in the first place. The quote succeeds because it offers absolution and a challenge at once: you’re not off the hook if you’re broke, and you’re not off the hook if you’re rich.
Quote Details
| Topic | Love |
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