abeereads’s Reviews > Down and Out in Paris and London > Status Update

"In practice nobody really cares whether work is useful or useless, productive or parasitic; the sole thing demanded is that it shall be profitable. In all the modern talk about energy, efficiency, social service and the rest of it, what meaning is there except 'Get money, get it legally, and get a lot of it'?"

Compelling argument (then even now), but I think if applied to the present context it became more nuanced.

"It seems to me that when you take a man's money away he's fit for nothing from that moment"

'No, not necessarily. If you set yourself to it, you can live the same life, rich or poor. You can still keep on with your books and your ideas. You just got to say to yourself, "I'm a free man in here"'- he tapped his forehead- 'and you're all right'

this 🤏🏼 close to dnf

"'We know that poverty is unpleasant; in fact, since it is so remote, we rather enjoy harrowing ourselves with the thought of its unpleasantness. [...] We feel that you are much safer as you are. The present state of affairs suits us, and we are not going to take the risk of setting you free, even by an extra hour a day. [...]since evidently you must sweat to pay for our trips to Italy, sweat and be damned to you.'"

oh my God this is literally The Bear