Money quote by Gloria Steinem

"It is more rewarding to watch money change the world than watch it accumulate"

About this Quote

The line reframes wealth from a static possession to a dynamic force. Money is not the treasure at the end of the journey; it is the tool that propels the journey forward. Accumulation offers security and status, but it plateaus quickly. Outcomes born of invested capital, healthier communities, educated minds, protected ecosystems, flourishing arts, yield both tangible and emotional dividends that compound beyond any balance sheet.

“Rewarding” is double-edged here: it speaks to inner fulfillment and to public benefit. The personal satisfaction of seeing a scholarship recipient graduate or a neighborhood garden thrive is not a sentimental extra; it is the experience of meaning that mere hoarding denies. At the same time, those dollars in motion create social returns that outlast their original form. Influence and legacy arise not from the height of a pile, but from the breadth of its circulation.

This stance isn’t limited to grand philanthropy. Every budget is a moral document. Choosing fair-wage businesses, supporting local enterprises, backing climate solutions, contributing to mutual aid, or seeding ventures that prioritize dignity are ways to enlist money in service of values. Impact investing and mission-driven finance demonstrate that capital can pursue profit and purpose, challenging the false binary that doing good and doing well are mutually exclusive.

There is courage in this posture. It accepts that some risks are worth taking, that security should be balanced with generosity and imagination. It also demands accountability: real change, not performative giving. Outcomes matter, lives improved, emissions avoided, opportunities expanded.

Accumulation as an end breeds comparison and scarcity. Circulation breeds connection. A ledger grows by numbers; a life grows by relationships and contributions. Prosperity becomes less about building a mountain and more about creating a river, one that flows through many hands, nourishing places it touches, and returning, transformed, as a legacy of movement rather than a monument to stasis.

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About the Author

USA Flag This quote is written / told by Gloria Steinem somewhere between March 25, 1934 and today. He/she was a famous Activist from USA, the quote is categorized under the topic Money. The author also have 45 other quotes.
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