Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Covetousness
Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness.
Marlowe—The Jew of Malta. Act I. Sc. 2.
Quicquid servatur, cupimus magis: ipsaque furem
Cura vocat. Pauci, quod sinit alter, amant.
We covet what is guarded; the very care invokes the thief. Few love what they may have.
Ovid—Amorum. III. 4. 25.
Verum est aviditas dives, et pauper pudor.
True it is that covetousness is rich, modesty starves.
Phædrus—Fables. II. 1. 12.
Alieni appetens sui profusus.
Covetous of the property of others and prodigal of his own.
Sallust—Catilina. V.
I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honor
I am the most offending soul alive.
Henry V. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 24.
When workmen strive to do better than well,
They do confound their skill in covetousness.
King John. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 28.