"I was fated the other day to come from Venice to Verona with a
family--father and mother and two girls--it matters not what country
they came from--presumably rich--girls fifteen and eighteen. I never
before conceived the misery of people who had evidently spent all their
lives in trying to gratify themselves. It was a little warm--warmer than
was entirely luxurious--but nothing in the least harmful. They moaned
and fidgeted and frowned and puffed and stretched and fanned, and ate
lemons, and smelled bottles, and covered their faces, and tore the cover
off again, and had not one thought or feeling during five hours of
traveling in the most noble part of all the world except what four poor
beasts would have had in their end of a menagerie, being dragged about
on a hot day. Add to this misery every form of polite vulgarity, in
methods of doing and saying the common things they said and did. I never
yet saw humanity so degraded (allowing for external circumstances of
every possible advantage) given wealth, attainable education and the
inheritance of eighteen centuries of Christianity."
--_Letter to Charles E. Morton in the Atlantic._
1657
They call him rich; I deem him poor;
Since, if he dares not use his store,
But saves it for his heirs,
The treasure is not his, but theirs.
1658
The generous should be rich, and the rich should be generous.
1659
Very rich men seldom or never whistle; poor men always do.
1660
Who is truly rich? He who is satisfied with what he possesses.
--_From The Talmud._
1661
It is difficult to gather a heap in a long time, but it is easy to
squander the whole in a day.
--_Diphilus._
1662
Sir Thomas Sutton, the founder of the Charter House, was one of the
wealthiest merchants of his day. Fuller tells how he was overheard one
day praying in his garden: "Lord, Thou hast given me a large and liberal
estate; give me also a heart to make use of it."
1663
_The Influence of Riches._--A respectable widow lady, with a very small
income, which she was obliged to eke out by the produce of her own
industry and ingenuity, was remarkable for her generous liberality,
especially in contributing to the cause of religion. When any work of
pious benevolence was going forward, she was always ready to offer a
donation equal to those of persons in comparative affluence. In process
of time this lady came into the possession of an ample fortune, greatly
to the joy of all who knew her willing liberality. But she no longer
came forward unsolicited towards the cause of Christ, and when applied
to, she yielded her aid but coldly and grudgingly, and sometimes excused
herself from giving at all. On one occasion she presented a shilling to
the same cause to which she had formerly given a guinea when in a state
of comparative poverty. Her minister felt it his duty to expostulate
with her, and reminded her of her former generosity when her means were
so circumscribed. "Ah! sir," she affectingly replied; "then I had the
shilling means, but the guinea heart, now I have the guinea means, but
only the shilling heart. Then I received day by day my daily bread, and
I had enough and to spare; now, I have to look at my ample income, but I
live in constant apprehension that I may come to want!"
1664
Riches and care are as inseparable as sun and shadow.
1665
As riches and favor forsake a man, we discover him to be below
mediocrity, but nobody could find it out in his prosperity.
1666
I remember when Mr. Locke first came over from Italy. Old Dr. Moore, who
had a high opinion of him, was crying up his drawings, and asked me if I
did not think he would make a great painter? I said, "No, never!" "Why
not?" "Because he has six thousand a year."
--_Northcote._
1667
Few men are both rich and generous; fewer are both rich and humble.
--_Manning._
1668
Riches serve a wise man but command a fool.
--_German._
1669
'Tis strange, the miser should his cares employ
To gain those riches he can ne'er enjoy.
--_Pope._
1670
_Riches_:--We see how much a man has, and therefore we envy him; did we
see how little he enjoys, we would rather pity him.
--_Seed._
1671
My riches consist not in the greatness of my possessions, but in the
smallness of my wants.
--_Cobbett._
1672