Samuel Johnson - The Vanity of WealthSamuel Johnson - The Vanity of Wealth
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No more thus brooding o`er yon heap,
With avarice painful vigils keep:
Still unenjoy`d the present store,
Still endless sighs are breathed for more.
O! quit the shadow, catch the prize,
Which not all India`s treasure buys!
To purchase with heaven has gold the power?
Can gold remove the mortal hour?
In life can love be bought with gold?
Are friendship`s pleasures to be sold?
No! - all that`s worth a wish - a thought,
Fair virtue gives unbribed, unbought,
Cease then on trash thy hopes to bind,
Let noble views engage thy mind.
With science tread the wondrous way,
Or learn the Muses` moral lay;
In social hours indulge thy soul,
Where mirth and temperance mix the bowl;
To virtuous love resign thy breast,
And be, by blessing beauty, - bless`d.
Thus taste the feast by Nature spread,
Ere youth and all its joys are fled;
Come taste with me the balm of life,
Secure from pomp, and wealth, and strife.
I boast whate`er for man was meant,
In health, and Stella, and content;
And scorn! (oh! let that scorn be thine!)
Mere things of clay, that dig the mine.
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