I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.

The line contrasts simple, living beauty with conspicuous luxury. “Roses on my table” suggests everyday pleasure, sensory richness, and a home oriented toward experience and affection; “diamonds on my neck” stands for status, wealth, and social display. Read in the spirit often associated with Goldman’s critique of bourgeois values, it implies a preference for immediacy and human flourishing over possessions that signal rank. The aphorism also carries a feminist edge: rejecting adornment as a form of social expectation in favor of self-directed enjoyment. Even without a verified primary source, the sentiment functions as a compact statement of anti-materialism and the prioritizing of life over property.