How we cite our quotes: (Part.Paragraph)
Quote #1
His clothes were a trifle outgrown and the tan velvet on the collar of his open overcoat was frayed and worn; but for all that there was something of the dandy about him, and he wore an opal pin in his neatly knotted black four-in-hand, and a red carnation in his buttonhole. (1.1)
If you can read this without a single tear in your eye, congratulations on your cold, dead heart. The neatly tied tie, opal pin, and carnation—details that show Paul cares a lot about his appearance—contrast with the fact that his clothes are worn-out and too small. Paul's father probably has money to buy Paul better clothes (we learn that he's not poor), but obviously doesn't think it's a priority.
Quote #2
[H]is father, on principle, did not like to hear requests for money, whether much or little. […] He was not a poor man, but he had a worthy ambition to come up in the world. His only reason for allowing Paul to usher was, that he thought a boy ought to be earning a little. (1.26)
Look, something Paul and his father can bond over: money. Paul's father loves money just as much as Paul does, but for practical reasons.
Quote #3
He spent upward of two hours there, buying with endless reconsidering and great care. His new street suit he put on in the fitting-room; the frock-coat and dress-clothes he had bundled into the cab with his linen. Then he drove to a hatter's and a shoe house. His next errand was at Tiffany's, where he selected his silver and a new scarf-pin. (2.39)
This is like the millionaire's edition of What Not to Wear. Out with the too-small, faded clothes, and in with the frock coat and silk boxers.
Quote #4
[I]n his scrap book at home there were pages of description about New York hotels, cut from the Sunday papers. When he was shown to his sitting-room on the eighth floor, he saw at a glance that everything was as it should be; there was but one detail in his mental picture that the place did not realize, so he rang for the bell boy and sent him down for flowers. (2.41)
This is how we know that Paul is living out a fantasy: He actually makes sure that the reality matches his second-hand vision of what rich people do.
Quote #5
There were a score of cabs about the entrance of his hotel, and his driver had to wait. Boys in livery were running in and out of the awning stretched across the sidewalk, up and down the red velvet carpet laid from the door to the street. (2.48)
Look, an actual red carpet! Yes, the people thronging outside the Waldorf (where Paul is staying) are so rich that they can't soil their feet by walking on concrete or asphalt or whatever streets were made of in 1905. Paul is totally jealous.
Quote #6
He felt now that his surroundings explained him. Nobody questioned the purple; he had only to wear it passively. He had only to glance down at his attire to reassure himself that here it would be impossible for anyone to humiliate him. (2.52)
"Purple" is a code for rich, rich, rich. Way back in the day, only rich and powerful people (nobleman and officials high in the church) could wear this color, because it was expensive to produce. Paul isn't actually wearing purple clothes, here—but he sure does feel like royalty.
Quote #7
He doubted, more than ever, the existence of Cordelia Street, and for the first time he drank his wine recklessly. Was he not, after all, one of those fortunate beings born to the purple, was he not still himself and in his own place? He drummed a nervous accompaniment to the Pagliacci music and looked about him, telling himself over and over that it had paid. (2.58)
Paul has almost totally convinced himself that evil fairies switched him at birth and that he really belongs here, "born to purple." So, basically we know that everything is about to come crashing down.
Quote #8
He had not a hundred dollars left; and he knew now, more than ever, that money was everything, the wall that stood between all he loathed and all he wanted. (2.61)
You might think that having lots of money would teach Paul that money isn't everything, but in fact it just teaches him that money is everything. How's that for a moral?