The Secret Of Wealth
The Secret Of Wealth132 total pages.
"To maintain prosperity is harder than to acquire it." Nowadays it is easy to earn money. Intelligence and business ability come in strongest when a decision is to be made as to how money shall be spent. Shall it be spent in buying rainbows? Or shall it be spent in buying such necessities as will last--and in buying capital? "A man's capital is what he has left after he has fed and clothed himself, and paid for the ' incidentals' of life which include everything from railroad tickets to a tooth-brush." Every day the choice is before every one of us. Here is money. Shall I buy luxury which I fancy --or shall I buy more capital? We cannot do both. The difference between the rich man and the poor man is the difference in what he buys with his money. The rich man has bought wealth and position. The poor man has bought trash. A leading financier overthrows another mistaken theory of the man who wants to be rich but has not the gumption to be it:--"Can't make a million dollars honestly?" he asks. "Whoever says that is wanting in industry, or courage, or integrity, or aptitude." "How is it that some men live in abundance, and have something to spare, while others can scarcely obtain the necessaries of life, and at the same time run into debt?" asks Socrates, the great philosopher. '' The reason is," replied Isomachus, "because the former occupy themselves with their business, while the latter neglect it." "The young man should never hear any language but this: 'You have your own way to make, and it depends upon your own exertions whether you starve or not.' " To put the whole thing into an epigram: -- He who would be poor-- "Thinks of life as a goblet to be drained instead of a measure to be filled." CHAPTER II
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