A gold coin rests in one pan of tilted brass scales beside an open book on muted olive ground.

Original artwork, not a still

Gertrude Stein

I do want to get rich but I never want to do what there is to do to get rich.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Stein wryly admits to wanting wealth while refusing to embrace the effort, compromise, or hustle typically required to earn it, highlighting a knowing contradiction between ambition and an unwillingness to do what accumulating riches demands.

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