To me avarice seems not so much a vice as a deplorable piece of madness. Thomas Browne
Avarice is generally the last passion of those lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition. He that sinks under the fatigue of getting wealth, lulls his age with the milder business of saving it. Samuel Johnson
Avarice, the spur of industry, is so obstinate a passion, and works its way through so many real dangers and difficulties, that it is not likely to be scared by an imaginary danger, which is so small that it scarcely admits of calculation. David Hume
Avarice is more directly opposed to thrift than generosity is. Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld
Truly, it is not want, but rather abundance, that breeds avarice. Michel de Montaigne
Avarice is the vice of declining years. George Bancroft
Avarice is only prudence and economy pushed to excess. Paul Chatfield
The state is suffering from two opposite vices, avarice and luxury; two plagues which, in the past, have been the ruin of every great empire. Livy
The avaricious man is like the barren sandy ground of the desert which sucks in all the rain and dew with greediness, but yields no fruitful herbs or plants for the benefit of others. Zeno