The two un-virtuous extremes are wastefulness and stinginess (or meanness). The narrator prefaces the story by condemning the greed and stinginess of the wealthy class. Tam thought this was a turn on saying as Frances disapproves of his stinginess. It also offers easy maintenance and downright stinginess when it comes to gasoline consumption. With legendary stinginess, Salis found every excuse for not paying his staff, suppliers and artists. And present in [human] souls is stinginess. His stinginess limited the range of his collecting because he refused to pay full price.