Where all is eaten up it is pretty certain that the commons were but short. "There is not enough if there is not too much" (French).[318] Beaumarchais makes Figaro, in speaking of love, to utter the charming hyperbole which has passed into a proverb, "Too much is not enough."[319] Even without being in love, everybody must agree with Voltaire in considering
"Le superflu, chose très nécessaire."
All covet, all lose.
Covetousness brings nothing home.
"It bursts the bag" (Italian).[320] Like the dog in the fable, it grasps at the shadow, and lets fall the substance. "He that embraces too much holds nothing fast" (Italian, French).[321] A statue was erected to Buffon in his lifetime, with the inscription, Naturam amplectitur omnem ("He embraces all nature"). Somebody remarked upon this, "He that embraces too much," &c. Buffon heard of the sarcasm, and had the inscription obliterated.
It is hard for a greedy eye to hae a leal heart.—Scotch.
Covetousness is scarcely consistent with honesty.
Much would have more.
A greedy eye never had a fu' weam [belly].—Scotch.
"The dust alone can fill the eye of man" (Arab); i.e., the dust of the grave can alone extinguish the lust of the eye and the cupidity of man. Among the Arabs, the phrase, "His eye is full," signifies he possesses every object of his desire. The Germans say, "Greed and the eye can no man fill."[322] The Scotch say of a covetous person,—
He'll get enough ae day when his mouth's fu' o' mools [mould].
The greedy man and the gileynoar [cheat] are soon agreed.—Scotch.
"The sharper soon cheats the covetous man" (Spanish).[323]
The grace of God is gear enough.—Scotch.