Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Economy
Emas non quod non opus est, sed quod necesse est. Quod non opus est, asse carum est.
Buy not what you want, but what you have need of; what you do not want is dear at a farthing.
Cato. As quoted by Seneca—Epistles 94.
Magnum vectigal est parsimonia.
Economy is a great revenue.
Cicero—Paradoxa. VI. 3. 49.
A penny saved is two pence clear,
A pin a day’s a groat a year.
Franklin—Necessary Hints to those that would be Rich.
Many have been ruined by buying good Pennyworths.
Franklin—Poor Richard’s Almanac.
Cut my cote after my cloth.
Godly Queene Hester. Interlude. (1530). Expression said to be a relic of the Sumptuary Laws.
Give not Saint Peter so much, to leave Saint Paul nothing.
Herbert—Jacula Prudentum.
Serviet eternum qui parvo nesciet uti.
He will always be a slave, who does not know how to live upon a little.
Horace—Epistles. I. 10. 41.
To balance Fortune by a just expense,
Join with Economy, Magnificence.
Pope—Moral Essays. Ep. III. L. 223.
By robbing Peter he paid Paul, he kept the moon from the wolves, and was ready to catch larks if ever the heavens should fall.
Rabelais—Works. Bk. I. Ch. XI. Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Westminster Abbey was called St. Peter’s! St. Paul’s funds were low and sufficient was taken from St. Peter’s to settle the account. Expression found in Collier’s Reprint of Thomas Nash—Have with you to Saffron-Walden. P. 9.
Sera parsimonia in fundo est.
Frugality, when all is spent, comes too late.
Seneca—Epistolæ Ad Lucilium. I.
Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest,
Ride more than thou goest,
Learn more than thou trowest,
Set less than thou throwest.
King Lear. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 131.
Economy, the poor man’s mint.
Tupper—Proverbial Philosophy. Of Society. L. 191.