One day I nearly dropped a bowl of oyster stuffing when I read with disbelief and disappointment that the average American family spent only $2.59 a person on Thanksgiving dinner in 1991, down from $.289 the year before, an undeniable sign of the decay of family and national values under two successive Republican administrations.

jeffrey steingarten, the man who ate everything, p.34

Pallida mors equo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas,

Regumque turres.

horace, quoted by cervantes in prologue to don quixote

Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro.

aesop, quoted by cervantes in prologue to don quixote

At one time, Latin womenfolk would be kept pure

By humble fortune; and to stop vice tainting their small

Abodes they had to work, slumber brief, and hardened hands

Fretted with Tuscan fleece, and Hannibal beside

The city, and husbands standing on the Colline tower.

Luxury has set in, avenging the conquered globe.

Not one crime has been wanting or one act of lust

Since Roman poverty expired.

juvenal, satires 6. ll.287-295, in juvenal's sixteen satires upon the ancient harlot.

quoted in augustine's letter to marcellinus, pp.39-40

again, america.

If God allows that sort of thing to flourish, it shows that he is seriously displeased. By letting it go unpunished he inflicts a more savage punishment. But when he overthrows such aids to vice, and reduces their pampered passions to poverty, then his opposition is merciful.

augustine, letter to marcellinus, p.38

exactly why america should be terribly, terribly afraid. God has given us the desires of our own hearts.

Jesus paid the penalty of death for being the heir of these dead ends. They slew him because he held all their riches and wealth in his hands and heart, his mind and soul. He was too rich not to share the catastrophe of this all too rich ancient world.

rosenstock-huessy, fruit of lips, 1.3

Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.

prov. 24:27

What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar.

prov. 19:22

it seems to me that these two passages complement each other well in describing when a man is ready for marriage.