“Be charitable before Wealth makes thee covetous.”
Letter to a Friend (circa 1656)
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Thomas Browne 78
English polymath 1605–1682Related quotes

“With the increase of wealth the mania of covetousness increases.”
Book VII Chapter VII
Institutes of the Coenobia (c. 420 AD)

“It is not my experience that life’s difficulties make people more charitable.”
All the Pretty Horses (1992)

The London Literary Gazette (10th January 1835) Versions from the German (Second Series.) 'Pauline's Price'— Goethe.
Translations, From the German

Numbers 6:24-26.
Tyndale's translations

Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 114
Source: Translations, The Aeneid of Virgil (1866), Book VIII, p. 286

The Earthly Paradise (1868-70), The Lady of the Land
Context: What man art thou that thus hast wandered here,
And found this lonely chamber where I dwell?
Beware, beware! for I have many a spell;
If greed of power and gold have led thee on,
Not lightly shall this untold wealth be won.
But if thou com'st here knowing of my tale,
In hope to bear away my body fair,
Stout must thine heart be, nor shall that avail
If thou a wicked soul in thee dost bear;
So once again I bid thee to beware,
Because no base man things like this may see,
And live thereafter long and happily.

Interview with GALA Magazine (January 2007) http://www.princessinaara.org/news/gala0701.pdf