Skip to main content

Wealth & Money Quote by Princess Diana

"They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?"

About this Quote

Princess Diana’s joke lands because it punctures a fairy tale from the inside. The world wanted her to embody the clean moral math of children’s stories: wealth equals bliss, status equals safety. She flips that equation with a line that sounds breezy but carries the grit of lived experience. The setup nods to a cliché - “poor and happy” versus “rich and miserable” - then the punchline proposes something almost British in its restraint: not happiness, not despair, just “moderately rich and just moody.” It’s funny because it’s honest about how people actually negotiate dissatisfaction. We don’t usually choose between extremes; we bargain with them.

The subtext is sharper: Diana is describing the emotional economy of privilege, where material abundance can’t buy interior peace, but it can buy insulation. “Moderately rich” isn’t greed; it’s an admission that money can soften consequences even when it can’t fix the self. “Just moody” reads like self-deprecation, yet it also signals a refusal to perform gratitude on command - a quiet rebellion against the demand that the fortunate must be perpetually radiant.

Context matters: Diana was famously scrutinized, lonely, and trapped in a system that sold intimacy as spectacle. Humor becomes her pressure valve and her weapon. By choosing moodiness over misery, she’s not denying pain; she’s reclaiming control over how it’s narrated. The line lets her be human in a role designed to turn humans into symbols.

Quote Details

TopicWitty One-Liners
SourceHelp us find the source
Cite

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Diana, Princess. (2026, January 15). They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody? FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/they-say-it-is-better-to-be-poor-and-happy-than-35718/

Chicago Style
Diana, Princess. "They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?" FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/they-say-it-is-better-to-be-poor-and-happy-than-35718/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?" FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/they-say-it-is-better-to-be-poor-and-happy-than-35718/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Princess Add to List
Moderately Rich and Just Moody - Princess Diana
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

Princess Diana

Princess Diana (July 1, 1961 - August 31, 1997) was a Royalty from United Kingdom.

35 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes