Riches are a cause of evil, not because, of themselves, they do any evil, but because they goad men on to evil.
Interpretation
Wealth can lead people to commit immoral acts when they become overly focused on it.
This quote by Posidonius suggests that it is not wealth itself that is inherently evil, but rather the pursuit of riches and the obsession with material possessions that can drive individuals to engage in unethical behavior. The idea is that wealth can act as a catalyst for negative actions, revealing the darker aspects of human nature when individuals are tempted by greed and desire.
In practice
During a lecture on ethics and morality, one could use this quote to discuss the potential negative impacts of wealth.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angles, but am note nice, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but am not nice, I am nothing. If I give all I posses to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but am not nice, I gain nothing.
When a person does not think, "Where shall I put it?" the mind will extend throughout the entire body and move to any place at all. . . . The effort not to stop the mind in just one place - this is discipline. Not stopping the mind is object and essence. Put it nowhere and it will be everywhere. Even in moving the mind outside the body, if it is sent in one direction, it will be lacking in nine others. If the mind is not restricted to just one direction, it will be in all ten.
Any pain entailed in repentance will always be far less than the suffering required to satisfy justice for unresolved transgression.
Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.
I started inventing things, and then I couldn't stop, like beavers, which I know about. People think they cut down trees so they can build dams, but in reality it's because their teeth never stop growing, and if they didn't constantly file them down by cutting through all of those trees, their teeth would start to grow into their own faces, which would kill them. That's how my brain was.
Cunning has effect from the credulity of others, rather than from the abilities of those who are cunning. It requires no extraordinary talents to lie and deceive.
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