Best Quotes from The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Clason with Page Numbers

A torment from the Gods it must be.

I wish to be a man of means.

I am willing to work for these things with all the strength in my back, with all the skill in my hands, with all the cunning in my mind.

Why cannot we acquire silver and gold—more than enough for food and robes?

We live in the richest city in all the world.

Are we more than dumb sheep?

Never in all those years did I think like this before.

What is the matter with us?

It costs nothing to ask wise advice from a good friend.

Now, at last, we see a light, bright like that from the rising sun.

"If you have not acquired more than a bare existence in the years since we were youths, it is because you either have failed to learn the laws that govern the building of wealth, or else you do not observe them."

"A part of all you earn is yours to keep."

"Wealth is a power. With wealth many things are possible."

"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."

"Every gold piece you save is a slave to work for you. Every copper it earns is its child that also can earn for you."

"Pay yourself first."

"You have learned to make gold work for you."

"Wealth grows wherever men exert energy."

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

"Enjoy life while you are here. Do not overstrain or try to save too much."

The glory of Babylon endures.

The riches of Babylon were the results of the wisdom of its people.

It is practical, your majesty. That which one man knows can be taught to others.

I had no advantage not enjoyed as fully by you and every citizen in Babylon.

Listen attentively to the knowledge that I will impart.

Deride not what I say because of its simplicity. Truth is always simple.

What each of us calls our 'necessary expenses' will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to the contrary.

The purpose of a budget is to help thy purse to fatten.

The gold we may retain from our earnings is but the start. The earnings it will make shall build our fortunes.

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.

"If a man be lucky, there is no foretelling the possible extent of his good fortune."

"Is there a way to attract good luck?"

"To ignore the gaming table would be to overlook an instinct common to most men, the love of taking a chance with a small amount of silver in the hope of winning much gold."

"In tilling the soil, in honest trading, in all of man's occupations, there is opportunity to make a profit upon his efforts and his transactions."

"...if he persists, he may usually expect to realize his profit. This is so because the chances of profit are always in his favour."

"Good luck, we do find, often follows opportunity but seldom comes otherwise."

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

"Men of action please her best."

"Action will lead thee forward to the successes thou dost desire."

"Therefore, delay not!"

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

If thou grasp their meaning and heed them, in the days that come thou shalt have much gold.

Without wisdom, gold is quickly lost by those who have it.

Wealth that comes quickly goeth the same way.

Wealth that stayeth to give enjoyment and satisfaction to its owner comes gradually, because it is a child born of knowledge and persistent purpose.

To earn wealth is but a slight burden upon the thoughtful man.

Gold, indeed, is a willing worker. It is ever eager to multiply when opportunity presents itself.

Gold clings to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling.

Wise, indeed, is he who investeth his treasures under the advice of men skilled in the ways of gold.

In the strength of thine own desires is a magic power. Guide this power with thy knowledge of the five laws of gold and thou shalt share the treasures of Babylon.

"Gold bringeth unto its possessor responsibility and a changed position with his fellow men."

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

"The wise lender wishes not the risk of the undertaking but the guarantee of safe repayment."

"What you labor earns for thee and what is given thee for reward is thine own and no man can put an obligation upon thee to part with it unless it do be thy wish."

"Gold wisely lent may even double itself with its earnings before a man like you groweth old."

"A lifetime of labor it would be."

"Thinkest thou thy sister would wish to jeopardize the savings of fifty years of labor over the bronze melting pot that her husband might experiment on being a merchant?"

"If thou dost safely preserve thy treasure it will produce liberal earnings for thee and be a rich source of pleasure and profit during all thy days."

"Better a little caution than a great regret."

"Such plans are the creations of dreamers unskilled in the safe and dependable laws of trade."

The walls of Babylon will protect you.

It was for the safety of such as you that the good Queen Semiramis built them over a hundred years ago.

Never have they been broken through.

Be thou of good heart, thou mother that is, and is again to be.

Calm thyself, good merchant.

The walls of Babylon will protect you and all of your possessions.

Back to thy husband. Tell him the gates are strong and withstand the rams.

The walls of Babylon are strong.

The walls of Babylon had once again repulsed a mighty and vicious foe.

We cannot afford to be without adequate protection.

Ill fortune pursues every man who thinks more of borrowing than of repaying.

A man is as he thinks.

If a man has within him the soul of a free man, will he not become respected and honoured in his own city in spite of his misfortune?

Thy debts are thine enemies who have run thee out of Babylon.

The soul of a free man looks at life as a series of problems to be solved and solves them.

Those who are in debt are in danger, and only through courage and determination may they find their way out.

Die in the desert! Not I! With a new vision, I saw the things that I must do.

Where the determination is, the way can be found.

A man can rise above his misfortunes if he fights against them.

Within me surged the soul of a free man going back to conquer his enemies and reward his friends.

That man who keepeth in his purse both gold and silver that he need not spend is good to his family and loyal to his king.

The man who wisheth to achieve must have coin that he may keep to jingle in his purse, that he have in his heart love for his family and loyalty to his king.

To take good care of a faithful wife putteth self-respect into the heart of a man and addeth strength and determination to his purposes.

Hath it not made an honourable man of an ex-slave?

It hath enabled me to pay all my debts and to jingle both gold and silver in my purse.

I am convinced that if I follow it further it will make me rich among men.

It is easier to pay one's just debts than to avoid them.

Great is the plan for it leadeth us out of debt and giveth us wealth which is ours to keep.

Nor am I, myself, finished with it, for I am convinced that if I follow it further it will make me rich among men.

There is more pleasure in running up such a surplus than there could be in spending it.

"To enjoy life?" he repeated. "What wouldst thou do to enjoy life if thou wert Sharru Nada?"

"Work was made for slaves," Hadan Gula responded.

"I like thy cakes, boy, but better still I like the fine enterprise with which thou offerest them. Such spirit can carry thee far on the road to success."

"Work, well-done, does good to the man who does it. It makes him a better man."

"Never across the hot desert would I ride. I would spend the shekels as fast as they came to my purse."

"Get once again the feeling of being a free man. Act like a free man and succeed like one!"

"Nothing takes the place of work."

"Life is rich with many pleasures for men to enjoy. Each has its place. I am glad that work is not reserved for slaves."

"I knew I was the luckiest man in Babylon."

"Thy grandfather enjoyed working. The Gods appreciated his efforts and rewarded him liberally."

Babylon is an outstanding example of man's ability to achieve great objectives, using whatever means are at his disposal.

All of its riches were man-made.

Babylon possessed just two natural resources—a fertile soil and water in the river.

Such abundant crops as were the reward of this irrigation system the world had never seen before.

The glory of Babylon has faded but its wisdom has been preserved for us.

The Babylonians were clever financiers and traders.

So far as we know, they were the original inventors of money as a means of exchange.

The story of the fall of Babylon is most unusual.

the wisdom of Babylon endures.

When those energizing human forces that built and maintained the city for thousands of years were withdrawn, it soon became a deserted ruin.