George S. Clason
George Samuel Clason, also known as George S. Clason. George Samuel Clason was born in Louisiana, Missouri, and died in Napa, California.
During his eighty two years he was a soldier, businessman and writer. He served in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War.
Clason started two companies, the Clason Map Company of Denver Colorado and the Clason Publishing Company. The Clason Map Company was the first to publish a road atlas of the United States and Canada, and did not survive the Great Depression.
George Clason is best known for writing a series of informational pamphlets about being thrifty and how to achieve financial success. He started writing the pamphlets in 1926, using parables that were set in ancient Babylon. Banks and insurance companies began to distribute the parables and the most famous ones were compiled into the book The Richest Man in Babylon.
—Wikipedia
“When no buyers were near, he talked to me earnestly to impress upon me how valuable work would be to me in the future: 'Some men hate it. They make it their enemy. Better to treat it like a friend, make thyself like it. Don't mind because it is hard. If thou thinkest about what a good house thou build, then who cares if the beams are heavy and it is far from the well to carry the water for the plaster. Promise me, boy, if thou get a master, work for him as hard as thou canst. If he does not appreciate all thou do, never mind. Remember, work, well-done, does good to the man who does it. It makes him a better man.”
“[H]e 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.”
“If you desire to help thy friend, do so in a way that will not bring thy friend's burdens upon thyself.”
“Where the determination is, the way can be found.”
“The hungrier one becomes, the clearer one's mind works— also the more sensitive one becomes to the odors of food.”
“The sun that shines today is the sun that shone when thy father was born, andwill still be shining when thy last grandchild shall pass into the darkness.”
“You've learned the lessons well. You first learned to live on less than you earn. Next you learned to seek advice from those who are competent. Lastly, you've learned to make gold work for you.”
“Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared. a”