The Secret Of Wealth

They teach you how to gain power, for "power comes from persistent and repeated effort. When you can do something better than anybody else, you are acquiring power; and if you can do this easily and pleasantly, that is your calling."

You have built castles in the air--all of us have done so, and the best of us keep on doing so all our lives. All right! Maybe some of your castles are finished all but the foundations, and now all you have to do is to put the corner-stone and the groundwork underneath.

Go ahead this year and finish those jobs.

Build the foundations of those castles so that one of them will be ready to move into by next New Year's Day.

Begin on one this week. Don't stand back thinking of all the work you will have to do to complete those castles just as you want them to be--you don't do all the work at once, you know.

The most extravagant and costly thing you can do is to waste time. Every hour owes you something in work, study, play or rest. Make it pay what it owes; that keeps the mind keen, the heart mellow, the body young, the purse full.

Your wealth does not hinge alone on what you earn, but on what you do with your earnings. It is not want of money, but rather waste of money which causes hand-to-mouth living, which makes a slave of the husband or father. It does not require any brains or virtue to save a goodly sum each year. The man who is storing up a part (no matter how small a part) of his income is his own master; his savings are to him a source of power; he radiates cheerfulness and boldness; he can sing at his work, eat three hearty meals a day, and sleep dreamlessly at night.

Wealth is just common sense. It means setting up your own standard of living, instead of letting your neighbors dictate one for you. "Wealth begins in a tight roof that keeps the rain and wind out; in a good pump that yields you plenty of sweet water; in two suits of clothes, so as to change your dress when you are wet; in dry sticks to burn; in a good double-wick lamp; and three meals; in a horse, or a locomotive to cross the land; in a boat to cross the sea; in tools to work with; in books to read."

84 of 132 pages. Go to page: