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Quote#Money & Wealth

The man who receives five thousand dollars a year wants six thousand…

Quote bySamuel Gompers · 1850–1924

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: What Does the Working Man Want? (speech), Louisville, KY (May 1890).

English (original)

The man who receives five thousand dollars a year wants six thousand dollars a year, and the man who owns eight or nine hundred thousand dollars will want a hundred thousand dollars more to make it a million, while the man who has his millions will want everything he can lay his hands on and then raise his voice against the poor devil who wants ten cents more a day.

— Samuel Gompers

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