My Novel, Books 10 and 11 of 12 by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Fiction, Literary 12+

📓 A friend of mine once said to a millionaire, whom he saw forever engaged in making money which he never seemed to have any pleasure in spending, "Pray, Mr. --------, will you answer me one question: You are said to have two millions, and you spend 600 pounds a year. In order to rest and enjoy, what will content you?" -- "A little more," answered the millionaire. That "little more" is the mainspring of civilization. Nobody ever gets it! "Philus," saith a Latin writer, "was not so rich as Laelius; Laelius was not so rich as Scipio; Scipio was not so rich as Crassus; and Crassus was not so rich -- as he wished to be!" If John Bull were once contented, Manchester might shut up its mills. It is the "little more" that makes a mere trifle of the National Debt! -- Long life to it! Still, mend our law books as we will, one is forced to confess that knaves are often seen in fine linen, and honest men in the most shabby old rags. . . .