"Excessive wealth is neither glory nor happiness. The cold and
sordid wretch, who thinks only of himself; who draws his head within
his shell and never puts it out, but for the purposes of lucre and
ostentation--who looks upon his fellow creatures not only without
sympathy, but with arrogance and insolence, as if they were made
to be his vassals, and he was made to be their lord--as if they
were formed for no other purpose than to pamper his avarice, or to
contribute to his aggrandizement--such a man may be rich, but trust
me, that he can never be happy, nor virtuous, nor great. There is in
fortune a golden mean, which is the appropriate region of virtue
and intelligence. Be content with that; and if the horn of plenty
overflow, let its droppings fall upon your fellow men; let them
fall, like the droppings of honey in the wilderness, to cheer the
faint and wayworn pilgrim. I wish you indeed to be distinguished;
but wealth is not essential to distinction. Look at the illustrious
patriots, philosophers and philanthropists, who in various ages have
blessed the world; was it their wealth that made them great? Where
was the wealth of Aristides, Socrates, of Plato, of Epaminondas,
of Fabricius, of Cincinnatus, and a countless host upon the rolls
of fame. Their wealth was in the mind and the heart. Those are the
treasures by which they have been immortalized, and such alone are
the treasures that are worth a serious struggle."