What is really desired, under the name of riches, is essentially, power over men... this power... is in direct proportion to the poverty of the men over whom it is exercised, and in inverse proportion to the number of persons who are as rich as ourselves.

The Works of John Ruskin: Time and tide, by Weare and Tyne. "Unto this last." Munera pulveris. The eagle's nest (ed. 1889)