Greedy misers rail at sordid misers. [ Helvetius ]

Let wealth come in by comely thrift,
And not by any sordid shift;
It is haste makes waste;
Extremes have still their fault.
Who gripes too hard the dry and slippery sand,
Holds none at all, or little, in his hand. [ Herrick ]

Through life's dark road his sordid way he wends,
An incarnation of fat dividends. [ Sprague ]

I knew once a very covetous, sordid fellow, who used to say. Take care of the pence; for the pounds will take care of themselves. [ Lord Chesterfield ]

A little grain of the romance is no ill ingredient to preserve and exalt the dignity of human nature, without which it is apt to degenerate into everything that is sordid, vicious and low. [ Swift ]

He who confers a favor should at once forget it, if he is not to show a sordid ungenerous spirit. To remind a man of a kindness conferred on him, and to talk of it, is little different from reproach. [ Demosthenes ]

Of all the vices, avarice is the most generally detested; it is the effect of an avidity common to all men; it is because men hate those from whom they can expect nothing. The greedy misers rail at sordid misers. [ Helvetius ]

The sordid meal of the Cynics contributed neither to their tranquillity nor to their modesty. Pride went with Diogenes into his tub; and there he had the presumption to command Alexander the haughtiest of all men. [ Henry Home ]

How often a new affection makes a new man! The sordid, cowering soul turns heroic. The frivolous girl becomes the steadfast martyr of patience and ministration, transfigured by deathless love. The career of bounding impulses turns into an anthem of sacred deeds. [ Chapin ]