How we cite our quotes: Story Number.Paragraph
Quote #4
"May the rich not live to see the day when I compare myself to them! Let them all go to hell!"
"You seem all worked up about the rich folks. Have they divided up your father's inheritance amongst themselves?""You should know," he said, "that you and I and all of us have a large share in their inheritance." (5.35-37)
A nice comparison of Tevye's sort of passive and accepting jealousy of the rich—he envies them but also hopes to become one of them someday—and Perchik's much more militant views. Also, check out how Tevye doesn't really get Perchik's global outrage about the idea of wealth disparity. Tevye is all, why would you be so mad at them—it's not like they did something to you personally. Meanwhile, Perchik is all about the bigger picture (which, for him, is Marxism all the way, baby).
Quote #5
As it is said: "God Himself must hate a poor man, because if God loved a poor man, the poor man wouldn't be poor." (5.58)
So, yeah, this pretty much puts in a nutshell why people are cool beans living in societies with gigantic wealth gaps between the rich and the poor. We like to call this blame the victim.
Quote #6
The power of millions! Even my Golde, when she sniffs out money, becomes another person. That's the kind of world it is—what can you do? As it is written in the Hallel: Gold and silver, the work of man's hands—wealth ruins a person. (7.31)
Whoa, seriously. This is a joke, right? Tevye isn't seriously making fun of Golde's total about-face on the whole who-are-these-jerks-you-invited-over situation once she finds out Ahronchik is rolling in dough... because he's the exact same way. Right?