The Richest Man in Babylon

by George S. Clason

Our acts can be no wiser than our thoughts. Our thinking can be no wiser than our understanding.

Money is the medium by which earthly success is measured.

Money makes possible the enjoyment of the best the earth affords.

Money is plentiful for those who understand the simple laws which go...

Money is governed today by the same laws which controlled it when prosperous men thronged the streets of B...

Fickle Fate’ is a vicious goddess who brings no permanent good to anyone.

On the contrary, she brings ruin to almost every man upon whom she showers unearned gold. She makes wanton spenders, who soon dissipate all they receive and are left beset by overwhelming appetites and desires they have not the ability to gratify.

Yet others whom she favors become misers and hoard their wealth, fearing to spend what they have, knowing they do not ...

I decided that if I was to achieve what I desired, time and study would be required.

“As for study, did not our wise teacher teach us that learning was of two kinds: the one kind being the things we learned and knew, and the other being the training that taught us how to find out what we did not know?

I am becoming an old man, and an old tongue loves to wag.

“‘A part of all you earn is yours to keep. It should be not less than a tenth no matter how little you earn. It can be as much more as you can afford. Pay yourself first. Do not buy from the clothes- maker and the sandal-maker more than you can pay out of the rest and still have enough for food and charity and penance to the gods.

Wealth, like a tree, grows from a tiny seed. The first copper you save is the seed from which your tree of wealth shall grow. The sooner you plant that seed the sooner shall the tree grow. And the more faithfully you nourish and water that tree with consistent savings, the sooner may you bask in contentment beneath its shade.’

Advice is one thing that is freely given away, but watch that you take only what is worth having.

Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared.”

Will power is but the unflinching purpose to carry a task you set for yourself to fulfillment.

When I set a task for myself, I complete it. Therefore, I am careful not to start difficult and impractical tasks, because I love leisure.”

“Enjoy life while you are here. Do not overstrain or try to save too much. If one-tenth of all you earn is as much as you can comfortably keep, be content to keep this portion. Live otherwise according to your income and let not yourself get niggardly and afraid to spend. Life is good and life is rich with things worthwhile and things to enjoy.”

A part of all you earn is yours to keep.

“Why should so few men be able to acquire all the gold?” “Because they know how,” replied the Chancellor. “One may not condemn a man for succeeding because he knows how. Neither may one with justice take away from a man what he has fairly earned, to give to men of less ability.”

That which one man knows can be taught to others.”

‘For each ten coins I put in, to spend but nine.’

I will tell thee an unusual truth about men and sons of men. It is this; That what each of us calls our ‘necessary expenses’ will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to the contrary.

“Confuse not the necessary expenses with thy desires. Each of you, together with your good families, have more desires than your earnings can gratify.

“All men are burdened with more desires than they can gratify.

“Study thoughtfully thy accustomed habits of living. Herein may be most often found certain accepted expenses that may wisely be reduced or eliminated. Let thy motto be one hundred percent of appreciated value demanded for each coin spent.

“Therefore, engrave upon the clay each thing for which thou desireth to spend. Select those that are necessary and others that are possible through the expenditure of nine- tenths of thy income. Cross out the rest and consider them but a part of that great multitude of desires that must go unsatisfied and regret them not.

“Budget then thy necessary expenses. Touch not the one- tenth that is fattening thy purse. Let this be thy great desire that is being fulfilled. Keep working with thy budget, keep adjusting it to help thee. Make ...

“Misfortune loves a shining mark. Gold in a man’s purse must be guarded with firmness, else it be lost.

“Thus the seventh and last remedy for a lean purse is to cultivate thy own powers, to study and become wiser, to become more skillful, to so act as to respect thyself. Thereby shalt thou acquire confidence in thy self to achieve thy carefully considered desires.

If a man be lucky, there is no foretelling the possible extent of his good fortune. Pitch him into the Euphrates and like as not he will swim out with a pearl in his hand. —Babylonian Proverb.

Opportunity waits for no man. Today it is here; soon it is gone. Therefore, delay not!’

Good luck can be enticed by accepting opportunity.

Men of action are favored by the goddess of good luck.

“Gold is reserved for those who know its laws and abide by them.”

The Five Laws of Gold 1. Gold cometh gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put by not less than one-tenth of his earngs to create an estate for his future and that of his family. 2. Gold laboreth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field. 3. Gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling. 4. Gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep. 5. Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.

If you desire to help thy friend, do so in a way that will not bring thy friend’s burdens upon thyself.”

Thou art my favored sister and I wish that thy husband may engage in business in which he will prosper greatly. If he will submit to me a plan that seems wise and possible to my friend, Mathon, then will I gladly lend to him my savings of an entire year that he may have an opportunity to prove that he can succeed.’ Do that, I say, and if he has within him the soul to succeed he can prove it. If he fails he will not owe thee more than he can hope some day to repay.

Better a little caution than a great regret.

The hungrier one becomes, the clearer one’s mind works — also the more sensitive one becomes to the odors of food.

How can you call yourself a free man when your weakness has brought you to this? If a man has in himself the soul of a slave will he not become one no matter what his birth, even as water seeks its level? If a man has within him the soul of a free man, will he not become respected and honored in his own city in spite of his misfortune?’

no man can respect himself who does not repay honest debts.’

Where the determination is, the way can be found