Laudator Temporis Acti

Augustine, Sermons 114A.4 (Miscellanea Agostiniana, vol. 1, p. 235; tr. Edmund Hill):

However, sometimes Avarice does have some sort of excuse for refusing to spend generously on the poor from its abundant resources, trifling though it may be and quite unacceptable and objectionable to the ears of the faithful. She says to herself, you see, "If I give something away, I won't have it myself, and by giving a lot away I will be in need myself, and later on I will be looking for someone whom I myself can receive things from. I simply have to have a lot, not only for food and clothing and my house and family, but also to stand me in good stead, for example, to pay off a blackmailer, to have the means of buying my way out of a jam. Human life is a very chancy business; I must save up for myself against a rainy day."

Sed aliquando, etsi nugatoriam et improbandam et respuendam ab auribus fidelium, tamen habet aliquam excusationem avaritia nolens erogare pauperi ex eo quod abundat. Dicit enim sibi: Si dedero, non habebo; et multum dando, egebo: et postea requiram, a quo et ipse accipiam. Debet mihi abundare, non solum ad victum et tegumentum, et domui meae et familiae meae, sed etiam propter bonos casus, ut habeam quod calumniatori impendam, ut habeam unde redimam: casibus plenae sunt res humanae; debeo mihi servare, unde me possim liberare.