To be rich is to have a ticket of admission to the masterworks and chief men of each race. It is to have the sea, by voyaging; to visit the mountains, Niagara, the Nile, the desert, Rome, Paris, Constantinople; to see galleries, libraries, arsenals, manufactories.
Emerson presents wealth as valuable partly because it expands access to experiences, places, knowledge and culture. Money can make travel possible, provide entry to libraries and galleries, and bring a person into contact with important works, institutions and people. In this sense, wealth functions as a means of widening experience rather than merely accumulating possessions.
Within Wealth, the passage supports Emerson’s broader argument that material resources are most useful when they increase a person’s practical and intellectual capacities. His examples reflect the travel and cultural opportunities available to affluent people in the 19th century, when many such experiences were inaccessible to those without substantial means. The quotation therefore treats wealth as a form of access and opportunity, while also revealing how economic resources can shape who is able to participate in education, travel and cultural life.