Let states that aim at greatness take heed how their nobility and gentlemen do multiply too fast. For that maketh the common subject grow to be a peasant and base swain, driven out of heart, and in effect but the gentleman’s laborer.
By Daniel Webster
(New England statesman and orator, 1782-1852)
The freest government cannot long endure when the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the hands of a few, and to render the masses poor and dependent.
The Deserted Village
By Oliver Goldsmith
(English poet and novelist, 1728-1774)
Sweet-smiling village, loveliest of the lawn!
Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn;