Quote#Money & Wealth
Thus Vice nurs'd Ingenuity
Quote byBernard Mandeville · 1670–1733
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Fable of the Bees (1714), "The Grumbling Hive", line 197, p. 11.
English (original)
Thus Vice nurs'd Ingenuity, Which join'd with Time and Industry, Had carry'd Life's Conveniences, It's real Pleasures, Comforts, Ease, To such a Height, the very Poor Liv'd better than the Rich before.
— Bernard Mandeville
More from Bernard Mandeville
Luxury Employ'd a Million of the Poor, And odious Pride a Million more; Envy it self, and Vanity, Were Ministers of Industry; Their darling Folly, Fickleness,
Thus every Part was full of Vice, Yet the whole Mass a Paradise; Flatter'd in Peace, and fear'd in Wars, They were th' Esteem of Foreigners, And lavish of their Wealth and Lives, The Balance of all other Hives.
They put off hearings wilfully, To finger the refreshing fee.
The worst of all the Multitude Did something for the Common Good.
Vast Numbers throng'd the fruitful Hive; Yet those vast Numbers made 'em thrive; Millions endeavouring to supply Each other's Lust and Vanity.
Then leave Complaints: Fools only strive To make a Great an Honest Hive. T'enjoy the World's Conveniences, Be fam'd in War, yet live in Ease, Without great Vices, is a vain Eutopia seated in the Brain.