The Hobbit

by J.R.R. Tolkien

Altogether those were good days for us, and the poorest of us had money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the fun of it, not to speak of the most marvellous and magical toys, the like of which is not to be found in the world now-a-days.

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.