A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune's inequality exhibits under the sun.

-Carlyle,Thomas
  Chartism, ch.4.

While the law [of competition] may be sometimes hard for theindividual, it isbestfor therace, becauseit insures thesurvival ofthefittest ineverydepartment. Weaccept and welcome, therefore, as conditions towhichwe must accommodate ourselves, great inequality of environment, the concentration of business, industrial and commercial, in the hands of a few, and the law of competition between these, as being not only beneficial, but essential to the future progress of the race.

-Carnegie, Andrew
  'The Gospel of  Wealth', in the North  American Review,  Jun.

Idiots are always in favour of inequality of income (their only chance of eminence), and the really great in favour of equality.

-Shaw, George Bernard
  The IntelligentWoman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism.