“The wisdom of the wise and the experience of ages may be preserved by quotation.”–Disraeli.
IN bringing down to the twentieth century the experience of the ages in the accumula?tion of money and property, it is necessary to quote from the great minds of all time for, as Wasson said, “I am but a gatherer and disposer of other men’s stuff” and like Montaigne “I quote others only the better to express myself.'’
It is altogether likely that we under-value quota?tions. We may bring our minds to a better under?standing of the usefulness of thoughts, quoted from those great ones who have gone before, if we will take the time to analyze and, through such analysis, be brought to realize that “There is nothing new under the sun” and almost all things are quoted.
“By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we quote.–We quote not only books and proverbs, but arts, sciences, religion, customs, and laws; nay, we quote temples and houses, tables and chairs by imitation.”–Emerson.
That great philosopher of the early nineteenth century, Ralph Waldo Emerson, left thoughts and ideas behind him for many succeeding generations to consider and absorb and, even his great mind, from which came many original thoughts, was broad enough to concede that “Our best thoughts come from others” and he also wrote “Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it.”
Lucius Annaeus Seneca said “A thing is never too often repeated which is never sufficiently learned” and the people of this day and age are living so intensively, and traveling so rapidly, that they have made but a poor beginning in gathering the best ideas from the past on how to live well and pleasurably and to finally acquire that wealth and standing, which will lift them from among the masses and place them in a position, where they command the respect and are accorded the admiration of their fellows.
Only a handful of us can be millionaires and only a limited number of us may ever be very rich, but each and every one of us can be, if we have the will and the steadfastness of purpose–each one of us can be richer than we are today, richer in money, richer in mind and richer in all of those things which go to make a man. Wealth and character may be builded at the same time, and with the same energy, but wealth acquired through the loss of character is fleeting and will not long re?main with us. Those, who are making every honest effort to build a fortune, should remember that “Riches consist not in the extent of possessions, but in the fewness of wants” and “the larger the income, the harder it is to live within it.”
And then, while growing rich, remember that the man who can grow rich and grow great at the same time is the man who will leave the greatest impress upon the world when he shall have passed on.
“If thou art rich, then show the greatness of thy fortune; or what is better, the greatness of thy soul, in the meekness of thy conversation; condescend to men of low estate, support the distressed, and patronize the neglected. Be great.”–Stern*.
“The mould of a man’s fortune is in his own hands.”–Bacon.
