The conviction of the rich that the poor are happier is no more foolish than the conviction of the poor that the rich are.
I didn't grow up with great privilege, nor did I grow up wanting for anything. I was a middle-class kid and, relative to the rest of the world, that's great wealth.
It's so easy for anyone to deal with their own guilt of being a middle-class white music fan by pointing to other people who they perceive to be richer than them, whiter than them.
You know what I have noticed? And this is really sad. Flying first class is less scary than flying coach. They speak to you and they're so nice to you and they want to help you and they know you want a drink before the plane takes off. And they bring it to you without asking. If you're sitting in coach and hoping for a drink, good luck.
At the drabber moments of my life (swilling some excrement from the steps, for instance, or rooting with a bent coat-hanger down a blocked sink) thoughts occur like 'I bet Tom Stoppard doesn't have to do this' or There is no doubt David Hare would have deputed this to an underling.'
... more snobbish than their English butlers.
Describing American diplomats in England:
If we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class.
I found a nanny/child care position in Beverly Hills taking care of a 3-year-old and a 17-year-old. They had a large, wealthy house. I learned that I liked the way rich people lived. I learned that they were not smarter than me.
Pride seems tew be quite equally distributed; the man who owns the carriage and the man who drives it seem tew have it just alike.