Prabanjan's Cosmos

The Richest Man in Babylon

4 min read

Asteroid 13 Asteroids
Black Hole 1 Black Hole
Constellation 1 Constellation

Annotations

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

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

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

  • Budget thy expenses that thou mayest have coins to pay for thy necessities, to pay for thy enjoyments and to gratify thy worthwhile desires without spending more than nine-tenths of thy earnings.”

  • Before thou entrust it as an investment in any field acquaint thyself with the dangers which may beset it.

  • Own thy own home

  • Provide in advance for the needs of thy growing age and the protection of thy family.

  • Preceding accomplishment must be desire. Thy desires must be strong and definite.

  • Desires must be simple and definite. They defeat their own purpose should they be too many, too confusing, or beyond a man’s training to accomplish.

  • The more of wisdom we know, the more we may earn.

  • That man who seeks to learn more of his craft shall be richly rewarded.

  • “He must pay his debts with all the promptness within his power, not purchasing that for which he is unable to pay. “He must take care of his family that they may think and speak well of him. “He must make a will of record that, in case the Gods call him, proper and honorable division of his property be accomplished. “He must have compassion upon those who are injured and smitten by misfortune and aid them within reasonable limits. He must do deeds of thoughtfulness to those dear to him. “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. “These then are the seven cures for a lean purse, which, out of the experience of a long and successful life, I do urge for all men who desire wealth. “There is more gold in Babylon, my students, than thou dreamest of. There is abundance for all. “Go thou forth and practice these truths that thou mayest prosper and grow wealthy, as is thy right. “Go thou forth and teach these truths that every honorable subject of his majesty may also share liberally in the ample wealth of our beloved city.”

  • 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.

  • good luck waits to come to that man who accepts opportunity

  • a habit of needless delaying where action was required, action prompt and decisive

  • with determination I conquered him

  • So must every man master his own spirit of procrastination

  • Those eager to grasp opportunities for their betterment, do attract the interest of the good goddess.

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

  • 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.

  • take no chance on losing their principal or tying it up in unprofitable investments from which their gold could not be recovered

  • he who spends more than he earns is sowing the winds of needless self-indulgence from which he is sure to reap the whirlwinds of trouble and humiliation

  • Where the determination is, the way can be found

Number of annotations:: 23

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