Though small was your allowance, You saved a little store: And those who save a little, Shall get a plenty more.
Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.
Avarice is more directly opposed to thrift than generosity is.
Frugality is one thing, avarice another.
If you wish to get rich, save what you get. A fool can earn money; but it takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage.
I enjoy money. You got to know how to enjoy it, though. A lot of people enjoy it the wrong way: They spend it all.
There was once a merchant who was so rich that he might have paved the whole street, and a little alley besides, with silver money. But he didn't do it--he knew better how to use his money than that.
Let wealth come in by comely thrift, And not by any sordid shift; 'T is haste Makes waste; Extremes have still their fault. Who gripes too hard the dry and slipp'ry sand, Holds none at all, or little, in his hand.
We are not to judge thrift solely by the test of saving or spending. If one spends what he should prudently save, that certainly is to be deplored. But if one saves what he should prudently spend, that is not necessarily to be commended. A wise balance between the two is the desired end.
Any fool can waste, any fool can muddle, but it takes something of a man to save, and the more he saves the more of a man does it make of him.
Paradoxically, when 'dumb' money acknowledges its limitations, it ceases to be dumb.
