Superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer.

The line contrasts “superfluity” (excess, luxury, overindulgence) with “competency” (a sufficiency of means). It suggests that living beyond necessity hastens aging—“white hairs” arriving sooner—whereas a moderate, sufficient way of life “lives longer,” preserving health and longevity. In Shakespearean moral economy, this is a warning against wasteful abundance and a praise of temperance: not poverty, but enough. The aphoristic structure also implies a social critique—those who chase surplus pay for it in bodily decline—while those content with competence endure.