It
is possible under a humble roof to excel in happiness kings and the
friends of kings. Wealth depends upon what men want, not upon what men
have. The more a man denies himself, the greater are the gifts of the
gods to him. One may hold riches in contempt, and thus be a more
splendid lord of wealth than the great landowner of Apulia. By
contracting his desires he may extend his revenues until they are more
than those of the gorgeous East. Many wants attend those who have many
ambitions. Happy is the man to whom God has given barely enough. Let him
to whom fate, fortune, or his own effort has given this enough, desire
no more. If the liquid stream of Fortune should gild him, it would make
his happiness nothing greater, because money cannot change his nature.
To the man who has good digestion and good lungs and is free from gout,
the riches of a king could add nothing. What difference does it make to
him who lives within the limits of nature whether he plow a hundred
acres or a thousand?
As with the passion of greed, so with anger, love, ambition for power,
and all the other forms of desire which lodge in the human heart.
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