SO GOOD QUOTES

Tell me, what better service do silver-encrusted tables and chairs of ivory-inlaid beds and couches provide than their simpler counterparts?  Yet for their sake the rich do not respond to the poor, not though thousands should come to their door crying with piteous voice.  Indeed, you refuse to give anything, insisting that it is impossible to satisfy the needs of those who beg of you.  You profess this to be true with your tongue, but your hand gives you the lie; silently, your hand bears witness to the falsehood, flashing as it does with the jewels from your ring.  How many could you have delivered from want with but a single ring from your finger?  How many households fallen into destitution might you have raised?  In just one of your closets there are enough clothes to cover an entire town shivering with cold.

—St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice