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The phrase is generally attributed to French political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
On October 14, 1793—in a famous speech to the city during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror—Paris Commune President Pierre Gaspard Chaumette said:
"Rousseau faisait parti du peuple aussi, et il disait: 'Quand le peuple n'aura plus rien à manger, il mangera le riche."
Roughly translated from French, Chaumette told the gathered revolutionaries:
"Rousseau, who was also one of the people, said: 'When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich'."
Etienne Girardet on Unsplash
This wasn't the first or the last time the wealthiest drew the ire of the majority of the populace for their excesses and being wildly out of touch with the struggles of the common man.
Living in a bubble of privilege, their responses to everyday life can be horrifying or absurd or hilarious depending on the situation.
French Queen Marie Antoinette's oft attributed—but probably never uttered—statement "let them eat cake" in response to the starving masses having no meat is one of the more famous examples. But perhaps she did say something similar.
She may have lost her head for a moment—which soon became a permanent condition.
Reddit user CoolCoast7853 asked:
"What is the most rich thing you've seen wealthy people say/do casually?"
What Housing Shortage?
"My friends bought a house in Palm Springs, but the renovation was taking too long so they just bought a second house in Beverly Hills to live in during the renovations."
"They kept both."
~ nightpop
"A relative bought a house in Malibu Colony—right on the beach—to live in while their Palisades home was being remodeled."
"Then they told me they kept the Malibu home because it was just easier than driving back to the Palisades after a day at the beach."
"It's about 9 miles from one house to the other."
~ Suz626
Public Service Postal Service
"Pay US Postal Service to keep the local branch of their post office open—it had been selected to close—so they didn’t have to drive as far to go to the post office."
~ capybarramundi
"That's more along the lines of calling the Congressman you own and getting a few strings pulled."
~ PerfectExamination64
"Strings made of money tho."
~ Terrible_Definition4
Chateau Shipping
"My dad knows a billionaire who had a French chateau disassembled and reassembled in the US."
"He acted like it was just as normal as building a house."
"My dad has been there a few times and said it’s an insane property with a huge man-made lake and sprawling lawns."
~ Udbbrhehhdnsidjrbsj
"I went to a guy's house one time that had been a church in the UK."
"Apparently it was going to be torn down so he had it shipped to the US and then built a modern house around it. Stunning home."
~ Expensive_Structure2
Crash Pad
"Going to their apt in the city so they have a place to hang out in between shopping at stores."
"Their apartment is only for that purpose."
~ GodHatesPOGsv2025
Jets Over Helicopters
"Was at a bar with the multi-billionaire CEO of the company I worked for."
"He made fun of Oprah for only having one jet, then went on to tell me to never buy helicopters because they are built by the lowest bidder—planes are the better choice."
"Bob, my car didn't even have air conditioning..."
~ closetklepto
Picking Up The Tab
"So I work part time at a strip club and we have some very rich clientele. Some of them come in all the time and we get to know a lot about them and they get to know a lot about us."
"Well, one of our security guys died of a sudden massive heart attack. One of the rich clientele just called the funeral home and paid for everything."
"Like there was no second thought. We were all taking up a collection to help a bit and he just dropped the whole bill just like that!"
"I mean I see a lot of really rich behavior... But that one was just so mind-blowing."
~ La_Murano
From The Mouths Of Babes
"It was from an 8-year-old!"
"My very wealthy friend got remarried, and her son said he wouldn't mind staying with me while they went on their honeymoon."
"As we took our seats on the plane to head to my home, he looked so confused."
"He sheepishly asked, 'Who are all these people on your plane?' Oh, my little dude..."
"He was great to hang out with. It was like he was new to the planet, so he excitedly dove into everything."
"This was before I became a parent and knew how truly sad it was to be a poor rich kid."
~ holdonwhileipoop
Bits And Bobs
"I used to work at a jeweler and the stories are endless. Clients would talk about how they just got back from a months long trip on a yacht oorto some exotic island."
"I’m just like, 'cool, I put in 60+ hours this week and have worked every day of the week'."
"The sh*t that I didn’t get at all is the watch guys."
"I had a client come in one time and ask for the cheapest watch we had, so he didn’t have to worry about it on his trip."
"He ended up going with an $800 watch—not the cheapest—and while I was checking him out, he said he was going to throw it away after the trip. I tried talking him out of it and just said return it afterward, but then he seemed insulted."
"Other watch guys would pay $1k every year just to get a little scratch on their Rolex that only they notice buffed out. I'd explain to them that they’re shaving precious metal off every time and ruining the integrity of the watch, but they didn't give a f*ck because their egos are so massive."
"We’d hold private events and encourage clients to bring their friends, and it'd always turn into a d*ck-swinging contest of who can spend more. Absolutely wild environment and I was absolutely burnt out after 2 years."
"Most money I ever made, but most miserable I’ve ever been."
~ GarryWisherman
Vacation Mansion
"I photograph luxury homes and architecture for a living. There’s a neighborhood I do a lot of work in called Silverleaf and it’s probably the most exclusive neighborhood in the valley."
"The bottom part of the neighborhood is your typical wealthy people's homes. Doctors, lawyers, business owners, etc... extremely nice houses, but still attainable for anyone who wants to put in the effort to work those types of careers."
"As you drive towards the back of the neighborhood you start heading up a mountain that's divided into two parts. Upper Canyon and The Summit."
"There are probably 100 houses up there. The houses start close to 15 million, but several are over 20-30. One of the builders I work with is developing a house he’s asking about 60 million for."
"I work Upper Canyon every month or two and even though all of the houses are owned, half or less are lived in. For some, it’s a vacation home they might visit for a few weeks or months of the year, and for others, it’s an investment and a place to park their money."
"I photographed a 15-million-dollar house there a few years ago. The owner was selling it because he bought a 29 million dollar house literally 2 or 3 lots up because he liked the views more."
"He’s a Canadian business owner and spends maybe a few months of the year in the valley if that."
"I’m used to it now, but for a long time I couldn’t wrap my head around how much money some people have."
~ b0red88
Paid To Go Away
"I once saw Jeff Bezos pay $100,000 to get a guy off the stage at an auction event."
"The guy on stage wasn’t going to leave until he reached his goal, and Jeff was tired of listening to him."
~ georgekourounis
Bar Tab
"There is a large liquor store near me and they have VERY expensive bottles in the back room."
"One Xmas I was standing in line. The man in front of me, had one case of wine, 12 bottles of various variety."
"The checker said, 'OK, that will be $27,455'."
"WTF‽‽ Guy just hands over his credit card. I followed him out—he drove away in a Bentley."
~ ntgco
Shape Up
"Contactor here. Lady did not like the shape of the pool at the new house."
"Get the job to change the shape. Do the job. So I tell her we can guarantee the workmanship for 5 years, but not any longer. She says cool, we're only here for 3."
~ reffak
My Money Folds, It Doesn't Jingle
"The head governor of my high school was a millionaire and would occasionally show up to have meetings with staff and/or parents on how things were going and where he could better invest in the school."
"One of these days he shows up and finds a kid crying by a vending machine because he'd dropped his £1 coin and it had rolled underneath."
"Governor opens his wallet, gives the kid a £10 note, and wanders off."
"The vending machines only accepted coins, so the very confused kid was a lot richer but still no closer to being less hungry."
~ Cmdr_Vimes
Dude... Casually Duding At Work
"My dad's boss had a really nice house and was owner of a garment factory. My father also did OK for himself—or so we thought."
"Dad has a big apartment in NYC with 4 bedrooms. This dude went to my dad’s house and at first he asked where the rest of the house was, then he told dad his closet was bigger than his bedrooms."
"He wasn’t lying. We went to his house. His gym had like 40 different treadmills, rowing machines and those body by Jake band machines. Also, the walk-in closets were in fact bigger than my dad’s bedrooms."
"His son had almost every game for every system. 15-year-old me was in awe. Every system in order, neatly stacked games across a giant wall and a huge projection TV in his wall."
"Last time I heard about him, he was at my dad’s office asking for 98k to go on vacation somewhere. The accountants were pissed he asked for it on short notice."
"This dude smoked marijuana in his house clothes at company meetings. He would interrupt to order pizza or sandwiches for everyone."
"He was hilarious. Everybody in the office looks professional and he’s in sweats with a joint eating stoner food."
~ mark503
Take Off
"I had a friend of mine casually ask if I wanted to go to Dubai in a couple of weeks for a week of skydiving training."
"My response was 'no, I have to work for a living or I won't have a home to come back to'."
"Blew my mind when they asked me, like it was no biggie to duck out for a week and blow $15k."
~ SwoopnBuffalo
"Casual, spontaneous international travel really is a hallmark of the super rich."
~ SlapHappyDude
"When I was in my early 20s, I worked at an entry level job with someone my age whose parents paid for everything except her holidays."
"So she'd work for 3 months putting her entire wage in her holiday fund, then take an unpaid leave to go on a one month holiday, then come back and work for another 3 months, go on another holiday, rinse and repeat."
"She could not seem to understand that I couldn't do the same thing because my money was going to rent/bills/groceries, etc... and my parents couldn't afford to fund my life even if they'd wanted to."
~ Kalamac
It's Usually A Noun
"Someone once asked me where I summer."
"I never felt so poor than when saying 'umm… here ?'."
"Using summer as a VERB is a sign we are not in the same tax bracket."
~ Cool_Koala_818
Most of us will never interact directly with a member of the uber rich, the—according to Forbes 2023 list—2,640 billionaires in the world. But multimillionaires are within reach with an estimated 59 million of them walking among us peons.
Have you ever encountered a member of the wealthy elite who was completely out of touch with your reality?