EXTRAVAGANCE
‘Extravagance’ is totally
unnecessary. It is wastefulness, lavishness, profligacy, recklessness, excess, immoderation,
lack of restraint, over display of wealth and resources, unnecessary exhibitionism,
and excessive expenditure of assets.
A number of religions, moral systems,
social philosophies and principles of
simplicity condemn extravagance.
In a country where innumerable citizens
have to beg for food, sleep in the open, remain under-dressed and borrow money
for various essential ceremonious
functions, extravagance is a vice, a sort of sin and immoral act.
Extravagance is an avoidable wastage
of money and means. It is a violation of simplicity and humility and display of
material arrogance. It is also an impious activity, hurtful to the
under-privileged. It may be approved by aristocracy, but not by democracy.
Here are some of the valuable
thoughts on extravagance.
1.
He that is extravagant will soon become poor, and poverty will enforce
dependence, and invite corruption. ---English author Samuel Johnson (1709-84).
2.
The passion of acquiring riches in order to support a vain expense,
corrupts the purest souls. ----French Archbishop Francis de S. Fenelon (1651-1715).
3.
Prodigality is the vice of a weak nature, as avarice is of a strong one.
It comes of a weak craving for those blandishments of the world which are
easily had for money.---English poet, dramatist and political scientist Sir Henry Taylor (1800-1886).
4. Laws cannot prevent extravagance; and
this perhaps is not always an evil to the public. A shilling spent idly by a
fool may be picked up by a wiser person, who knows better what to do with it;
it is, therefore, not lost. ---American statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706-90).
5. Riches are for spending, and spending
for honour and good actions; therefore extraordinary expense must be limited by
the worth of the occasion. ---English author and philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Finally, it is better to be frugal
than to be extravagant because a penny saved is a penny earned.
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G.R.Kanwal
20th
February 2024
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