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Riches are oft by guilt and baseness earn’d;
Or dealt by chance to shield a lucky knave,
Or throw a cruel sunshine on a fool.
But for one end, one much-neglected use,
Are riches worth your care; (for nature’s wants
Are few, and without opulence supplied;)
This noble end is, to produce the soul;
To show the virtues in their fairest light;
To make humanity the minister
Of bounteous Providence; and teach the breast
The generous luxury the gods enjoy.

— John Armstrong Attributed Forty Thousand Quotations (1917)

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More quotes by John Armstrong

This restless world
Is full of chances, which by habit's power
To learn to bear is easier than to shun.

The Art of Preserving Health (1744)

'Tis not for mortals always to be blest.

The Art of Preserving Health (1744)

Music exalts each joy, allays each grief,
Expels diseases, softens every pain,
Subdues the rage of poison, and the plague.

The Art of Preserving Health (1744)

Of right and wrong he taught
Truths as refined as ever Athens heard;
And (strange to tell) he practis'd what he preach'd.

The Art of Preserving Health (1744)

Our greatest good, and what we least can spare,
Is hope: the last of all our evils, fear.

Art of Preserving Health (1744)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Armstrong (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.