“Beware an act of avarice; it is bad and incurable disease.”
Ptahhotep Ancient Egyptian vizier
Maxim no. 19.
The Maxims of Ptahhotep (c. 2350 BCE)
“That disease
Of which all old men sicken,—avarice.”
The Roaring Girl (co-written with Thomas Dekker, 1611), Act i. Sc. 1. Compare: "So for a good old gentlemanly vice,/I think I must take up with avarice", Lord Byron, Don Juan, canto i. stanza 216.
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Do you have more details about the quote "That disease
Of which all old men sicken,—avarice." by Thomas Middleton?
Thomas Middleton35
English playwright and poet 1580–1627Related quotes
“Growing old: the most common mitochondrial disease of all?”
Anita Harding (1952–1995) neurologist
Title of article published in Natural Genetics (1992), 2:251-2; cited in Stephen Waxman (2010) Molecular Neurology. p. 536
“Nature abhors the old, and old age seems the only disease; all others run into this one.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Circles
“Verily they are the basest and meanest of men who account avarice prudence, and clemency ignoble.”
As-Saffah (722–754) First Abbasid caliph
Source: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-1989), The Green Pearl (1985), Chapter 12, section 1 (p. 545)
Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher
Les médecins administrent des médicaments dont ils savent très peu, à des malades dont ils savent moins, pour guérir des maladies dont ils ne savent rien. <br class="br">This attribution to Voltaire appears in Strauss' Familiar Medical Quotations (1968), p. 394, and in publications as early as 1956 http://books.google.pt/books?id=lCtCAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Doctors+are+men+who+prescribe+medicine+of%22&dq=%22Doctors+are+men+who+prescribe+medicine+of%22&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ei=mbnWUsvDIfTB7Aaw_YD4Dw&redir_esc=y; the quotation in French does not, however, appear to be original, and is probably a relatively modern invention, only quoted in recent (21st century) published works, which attribute it to "Voltaire" without citing any source. <br class="br">Attributed
Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher
This attribution to Voltaire appears in Strauss' Familiar Medical Quotations (1968), p. 394, and in publications as early as 1956 http://books.google.pt/books?id=lCtCAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Doctors+are+men+who+prescribe+medicine+of%22&dq=%22Doctors+are+men+who+prescribe+medicine+of%22&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ei=mbnWUsvDIfTB7Aaw_YD4Dw&redir_esc=y; the quotation in French does not, however, appear to be original, and is probably a relatively modern invention, only quoted in recent (21st century) published works, which attribute it to "Voltaire" without citing any source. <br class="br">Original: (fr) Les médecins administrent des médicaments dont ils savent très peu, à des malades dont ils savent moins, pour guérir des maladies dont ils ne savent rien.
