Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son

by George Horace Lorimer

Money talks—but not unless its owner has a loose tongue, and then its remarks are always offensive. Poverty talks, too, but nobody wants to hear what it has to say.

Business is like oil—it won’t mix with anything but business.

Very few men are worth wasting time on beyond a certain point, and that point is soon reached with a fellow who doesn’t show any signs of wanting to help.

Remember that when you’re in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and that when you’re in the wrong you can’t afford to lose it.

when you have been in business as long as I have you will be inclined to put a pretty high value on loyalty. It is the one commodity that hasn’t any market value, and it’s the one that you can’t pay too much for.

I have always found that, whenever I thought a heap of anything I owned, there was nothing like getting the other fellow’s views expressed in figures; and the other fellow is usually a pessimist when he’s buying.

the easiest way in the world to make enemies is to hire friends.

Never marry a poor girl who’s been raised like a rich one. She’s simply traded the virtues of the poor for the vices of the rich without going long on their good points.

when a fellow comes to me for advice about moving to a new country, where there are more opportunities, I advise him—if he is built right—to go to an old city where there is more money.

It looks to me as if you were trying only half as hard as you could, and in trying it’s the second half that brings results.

when a fellow knows his business, he doesn’t have to explain to people that he does. It isn’t what a man knows, but what he thinks he knows that he brags about. Big talk means little knowledge.

isn’t enough to be all right in this world; you’ve got to look all right as well, because two-thirds of success is making people think you are all right.

Those who succeed can’t forgive a fellow for being a failure, and those who fail can’t forgive him for being a success.

enthusiasm is the best shortening for any job; it makes heavy work light.

A good many young fellows envy their boss because they think he makes the rules and can do as he pleases. As a matter of fact, he’s the only man in the shop who can’t.

You can’t work individuals by general rules. Every man is a

Consider carefully before you say a hard word to a man, but never let a chance to say a good one go by.

Never learn anything about your men except from themselves.

Instead of hiring women, I try to hire their husbands, and then I usually have them both working for me.