Wealth, in the hands of men of weak purpose, of deficient self-control, or of ill-regulated passions, is only a temptation and a snare--the source, it may be, of infinite mischief to themselves, and often to others.
On the contrary, a condition of comparative poverty is compatible with character in its highest form.

A man may possess only his industry, his frugality, his integrity, and yet stand high in the rank of true manhood.

The advice which Burns's father gave him was the best: "He bade me act a manly part, though I had ne'er a farthing, For without an honest manly heart no man was worth regarding." One of the purest and noblest characters the writer ever knew was a labouring man in a northern county, who brought up his family respectably on an income never amounting to more than ten shillings a week.

Though possessed of only the rudiments of common education, obtained at an ordinary parish school, he was a man full of wisdom and thoughtfulness.

His library consisted of the Bible, 'Flavel,' and 'Boston'-- books which, excepting the first, probably few readers have ever heard of.