Literary notes about spendthrift (AI summary)
The term "spendthrift" in literature is often deployed as a vivid label for characters who waste resources or squander their fortunes, symbolizing not merely financial imprudence but also broader moral and intellectual recklessness. For instance, authors such as Plato use it to denote figures who, despite outward appearances of power, are in truth depleted of substance and value [1, 2, 3, 4]. In moral tales and fables, like those of Aesop, the spendthrift becomes a cautionary archetype—a young man reduced to near destitution by his careless habits [5, 6]. Likewise, writers such as Congreve and Nietzsche employ the term metaphorically to critique wastefulness in societal and personal spheres, extending its implications from mere fiscal irresponsibility to the squandering of time, talent, and opportunity [7, 8, 9]. Even in modern reflections, as in Oscar Wilde’s self-aware commentary, the spendthrift becomes emblematic of the paradoxical joy found in self-destruction through wasted genius [10].
- Or 258 did he only seem to be a member of the ruling body, although in truth he was neither ruler nor subject, but just a spendthrift?
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - What evil? The ruined man, who has no occupation, once a spendthrift, now a pauper, still exists in the State.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - Or did he only seem to be a member of the ruling body, although in truth he was neither ruler nor subject, but just a spendthrift?
— from The Republic by Plato - C As you say, he seemed to be a ruler, but was only a spendthrift.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - The Spendthrift and the Swallow A YOUNG MAN, a great spendthrift, had run through all his patrimony and had but one good cloak left.
— from Aesop's Fables by Aesop - The Spendthrift and the Swallow A YOUNG MAN, a great spendthrift, had run through all his patrimony and had but one good cloak left.
— from Aesop's Fables by Aesop - I warrant the spendthrift prodigal’s in debt as much as the million lottery, or the whole court upon a birthday.
— from The Way of the World by William Congreve - Our epoch, however much it may babble about economy, is a spendthrift: it wastes intellect, the most precious thing of all.
— from The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - The lover becomes a spendthrift; he is rich enough for it.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche - I became the spendthrift of my own genius, and to waste an eternal youth gave me a curious joy.
— from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
