Daily Inspiration Quote by George MacDonald

MacDonald sneaks a moral hand-grenade into a tidy parallel sentence. “To have what we want is riches” nods to the Victorian gospel of acquisition without quite endorsing it; riches are framed as outcome, not virtue. Then he pivots: “but to be able to do without is power.” The real flex, he argues, isn’t possession but immunity to possession. That twist matters because it relocates status from the marketplace to the self, from what you can buy to what can’t be bought.

The subtext is quietly insurgent. In a 19th-century Britain swelling with industrial wealth, consumer temptation, and rigid class signaling, wanting was being professionally cultivated: by advertising, by etiquette, by the social fear of looking insufficient. MacDonald, a novelist with a Christian-inflected conscience, treats desire as a kind of leash. If your peace depends on getting what you want, you’re governable: by employers, trends, neighbors, even your own appetites. “Power” here isn’t brute force; it’s the capacity to refuse the terms of the game.

The line works because of its symmetrical grammar and asymmetrical values. “Riches” sounds enviable but passive; it can happen to you. “Power” sounds active; it belongs to you. MacDonald isn’t romanticizing deprivation so much as pointing to a lever of freedom: when you can do without, you can’t be easily bribed, panicked, or sold. That’s a critique of capitalism and ego delivered as spiritual common sense, sharp enough to survive its era.