Life & Wisdom Quote by Dave Eggers

Eggers turns “status” from a social reward into a moral offense, and the pivot is in that loaded qualifier: “in itself.” He’s not condemning ambition or distinction so much as the hoarding of visibility as an end point. Status, detached from use, becomes a kind of quiet violence: a way of arranging people into tiers and then pretending the tiers are natural.

The line’s real target is privilege that can’t plausibly plead helplessness. “Those with the means to move” suggests mobility in every sense: money, passports, platforms, institutional access, the kind of frictionless life that lets you change jobs, cities, even identities. For that class, status isn’t merely embarrassing; it’s “criminal” because it represents a choice to protect rank instead of spending it. Eggers frames influence as a tool, and refusing to deploy it is an ethical failure.

Then comes the alternative ethic: “the means to weave communion between people.” The verb “weave” is doing heavy lifting, implying labor, patience, and craft - not a viral post about community but the unglamorous work of building it. Communion is intimate and slightly sacred, a pointed contrast to the transactional logic of prestige. Subtext: if you can connect people and reduce isolation, you’re obligated to. In a culture where “networking” often masquerades as empathy, Eggers draws a hard line between social capital and social responsibility, indicting a creative-professional world that confuses being seen with doing good.