Saving is voluntarily postponing until a later date our payment from society, in the form of equivalent services, for services previously rendered to it.

Frédéric Bastiat
Economic Harmonies

This quote belongs to a very short chapter that should be placed in the hands of all those who complain about the rich. Indeed, the latter are rich because they managed to save more than what they have produced, meaning that they have not consumed what they could have demanded from society at the moment when society consumed what they produced. Seen this way, any productive person benefits from the right to saving – even the poor wage-earner who lives paycheque to paycheque is saving between the paycheque and the day he goes to the supermarket.

However, their fortune represents a debt from society towards them and one can understand why some individuals are envious for this – this does not render their fortune illegitimate and does not justify the spouting from those who would like not to honour the debt, though.

Other quotes from Saving:
Savings – Credit – Legitimacy