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Of Bion. Bion said that those who are zealous for wealth are ridiculous, which fortune provides, but illiberality guards, and kindness takes away.
Of Theognis. Not in vain, O Wealth, do the gods honor you most, For you easily bear wickedness. I do not love to be wealthy, nor do I pray for it, but may it be for me to live from little, having nothing bad.
Of Lucian. I came upon the earth naked, and naked I shall return to the earth, And why do I toil in vain, seeing the end is naked?
Of Simonides. Simonides, being asked whether wealth or wisdom is more preferable, "I do not know,"
he said, "but I do see the wise frequenting the doors of the wealthy."
Of Aristides. Aristides the Just, being reproached for his poverty by a certain rich man, said: To me (801) poverty will relate no evil; but to you, wealth not a few troubles.
Of Hiero. Being reproached that after teaching many to be orators, he was poor, he said: For I did not teach them to love money.
Of Musonius. We shall condemn the treasures of Croesus and Cyrus as extreme poverty; and we believe one man alone to be rich, the wise man, the one who is able to acquire self-sufficiency everywhere.
Of Xenophon the philosopher. He said that poverty is a self-taught philosophy; for what the one persuades by words, the other compels by deeds.
Wealth is a cloak for many evils.
The same, said that the rich and uneducated man is silver-plated filth..
Of Philistion. Even if you are the master of ten thousand cubits of land, when you die you will become of three or four.
Of Demonax. There are some who do not live the present life, but with great eagerness prepare as if they are going to live another life, not the present one.
From the maxims of Aristippus. A larger possession is not useless in the same way that a larger shoe is. For in the case of the one, the excess hinders its use; but in the case of the other, it is possible to use both the whole and a part of it at the right time.
Of Demosthenes. Demosthenes the orator, seeing a certain miser being carried out for burial, said: This man, having lived an unlivable life, left a life for others.
Choose a loss rather than a shameful gain; for the one will grieve you once; but the other, forever.
Of Democritus. Another of Theocritus. He said that many of the wealthy are stewards, but not masters of their possessions.
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Βίωνος. Βίων καταγελάστους ἔλεγεν τούς σπουδάζοντας περί τόν πλοῦτον, ὅν τύχη μέν παρέχει, ἀνελευθερία δέ φυλάττει, χρηστότης δέ ἀφαιρεῖται.
Θεόγνιδος. Οὐ δέ μάτην, ὦ Πλοῦτε, θεοί τιμῶσι μάλιστα, Ἡ γάρ ῥηιδίως τήν κακότητα φέρεις. Οὐκ ἔραμαι πλουτεῖν, οὔτ᾿ εὐχομαι, ἀλλά μοι εἴη Ζῇν ἀπό τῶν ὀλίγων οὐδέν ἔχοντι κακόν.
Λουκιανοῦ. Γῆς ἐπέβην γυμνός, γυμνός δ᾿ ἐπί γαῖαν ἄπειμι, Καί τί μάτην μοχθῶ, γυμνόν ὁρῶν τό τέλος;
Σιμωνίδου. Σιμωνίδης ἐρωτηθείς, πότερο αἱρετώτερον πλοῦτος, ἤ σοφία· οὐκ οἶδα,
ἔφη· ὁρῶ μέντοιγε τούς σοφούς ἐπί τάς τῶν πλουσίων θύρας φοιτῶντας.
Ἀριστείδου. Ἀριστείδης ὁ δίκαιος, ὀνειδιζόμενος ἐπί πενίᾳ ὑπό τινος πλουσίου, εἶπεν· Ἐμοί μέν (801) ἡ πενία οὐδέν ἱστορήσει κακόν· σοί δέ ὁ πλοῦτος ταραχάς οὐκ ὀλίγας.
Ἱέρωνος. Ὀνειδιζόμενος ὅτι πολλούς ῥητορεύειν διδάξας, ἐπένετο, εἶπεν· Οὔτε γάρ ἐδίδαξα φιλαργυρεῖν.
Μουσωνίου. Τῶν μέν Κροίσου καί Κύρου θησαυρῶν πενίαν ἐσχάτην καταψηφιούμεθα· ἕνα δέ καί μόνον πιστεύομεν πλούσιον, σοφόν, τόν δυνάμενον κτήσασθαι τό ἀνενδεές πανταχοῦ.
Ξενοφῶντ. φιλοσόφ.Τήν πενίαν ἔλεγεν αὐτοδίδακτον φιλοσοφίαν εἶναι· ἅ γάρ ἐκείνη τοῖς λόγοις πείθει, αὕτη τοῖς ἔργοις ἀναγκάζει.
Πολλῶν κακῶν ἐπικάλυμμά ἐστιν ὁ πλοῦτος.
Ὁ αὐτός, τόν πλούσιον καί ἀπαίδευτον ἔφησε, ῥύπον εἶναι περιηργυρωμένον..
Φιλιστίων. Κἄν μυρίων πηχῶν γῆς κύριος ὑπάρχεις, θανών γενήσῃ τριῶν ἤ τεσσάρων.
∆ημώνακτ. Εἰσί τινες, οἱ τόν μέν παρόντα βίον οὐ ζῶσιν, ἀλλά παρασκευάζοντες πολλῇ σπουδῇ ὡς ἕτερον βίον βιωσόμενοι, οὐ τόν παρόντα.
Ἐκ τῶν Ἀριστίππου γνωμῶν. Οὐχ ὥσπερ ὑπόδημα τό μεῖζον ἄχρηστον, καί ἡ πλείων κτῆσις. Τοῦ μέν γάρ ἐν τῇ χρήσει τό περιττόν ἐμποδίζει· τῇ δέ, καί ὅλῃ χρῆσθαι κατά καιρόν ἔξεστι, καί μέρει.
∆ημοσθ. ∆ημοσθένης ὁ ῥήτωρ, θεσάμενός τινα ἐκφερόμενον φιλάργυρον, ἔφη· Οὗτος βίον ἀβίωτον βιώσας, ἑτέροις βίον κατέλιπεν.
Ζημίαν αἱροῦ μᾶλλον, ἤ κέρδος αἰσχρόν· τό μέν γάρ ἅπαξ σέ λυπήσει· τό δέ, διαπαντός.
∆ημοκρίτ. ἄλ. Θεοκ. Τούς πολλούς τῶν πλουσίων ἔλεγεν ἐπιτρόπους εἶναι, ἀλλά μή δεσπότας τῶν χρημάτων.