"If you are given to avarice, think often of the folly of this sin, which makes us the slave of what was made only to serve us; remember how when we die we must leave all we possess to those who come after us, who may squander it, ruin their own souls b misusing it, [...]
"Avarice is said to be the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), and it is so because it causes hatred, theft, envy, separation, hostility, stormy blasts, remembrance of past wrongs, inhuman acts and even murder. A small fire can burn down an entire forest. But one virtue can help many to escape all the [...]
"Beware that you be not deceived by self-love, for sometimes it counterfeits the Love of God so cleverly that you may mistake one for the other. To avoid this, and to prevent a due care for your temporal interests from degenerating into avarice, it is needful often to practice a real poverty amid the riches [...]