"There is a set of advantages that have to do with material resources, and there is a set that have to do with the absence of material resources--and the reason underdogs win as often as they do is that the latter is sometimes every bit the equal of the former."

- Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath, 24-25

Material wealth and abundant free time are spiritual impediments

"I believe that the easy way materially usually is not the best way spiritually. For many, though not all, material wealth and abundant free time are spiritual impediments."

- Elder Dallin H. Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, "Adversity," BYU Devotional January 17, 1995
http://speeches.byu.edu/index.php?act=viewitem&id=575

Peace and prosperity can put a people to sleep

“Ours then seems to be the toughest test of all for the evils are more subtle, more clever. It all seems less menacing and it is harder to detect. While every test of righteousness represents a struggle, this particular test seems like no test at all, no struggle and so could be the most deceiving of all tests. Do you know what peace and prosperity can do to a people—it can put them to sleep” (Larry E. Dahl, “Fit for the Kingdom,” in Studies in Scripture, Volume Five: The Gospels, edited by Kent P. Jackson and Robert L. Millet [1986], 5:369).

- Pres. Ezra Taft Benson, as quoted in "Chapter 37: Helaman 10–12," Book of Mormon Student Manual, (2009), 274–80
http://www.lds.org/manual/book-of-mormon-student-manual/chapter-37-helaman-10-12?lang=eng

Luxury is probably the most severe test

“We’re tested and we’re tried. Perhaps we don’t realize the severity of the tests we’re going through. In the early days of the Church, there were murders committed, there were mobbings. The Saints were driven out into the desert. They were starving, they were unclad, and they were cold. We’re the inheritors of what they gave to us. But what are we doing with it? Today we’re basking in the lap of luxury, the like of which we’ve never seen before in the history of the world. It would seem that probably this is the most severe test of any we’ve ever had in the history of this Church” (Dahl, “Fit for the Kingdom,” in Studies in Scripture, 5:369).

- Harold B. Lee, as quoted in "Chapter 37: Helaman 10–12," Book of Mormon Student Manual, (2009), 274–80
http://www.lds.org/manual/book-of-mormon-student-manual/chapter-37-helaman-10-12?lang=eng

My greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth

“The worst fear that I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth; and yet they have to be tried with riches, for they will become the richest people on this earth” (reported in James S. Brown, Life of a Pioneer [1900], 122–23).

- Brigham Young, as quoted in "Brigham Young-Second President of the Church," Presidents of the Church Teacher Manual Religion 345, (2005), 21–36
http://www.lds.org/manual/presidents-of-the-church-teacher-manual-religion-345/brigham-young-second-president-of-the-church?lang=eng