The Prosperity & Wealth Bible - Kahlil Gibran

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Tobacco Boss them; some are led around by a harmless looking glass of Liquid Stimulant; some are ruled by a bunch of fool, imaginary Worries; some are commanded by an army of Nerves; some allow an unregulated Stomach to Boss; some call in Clothes and Style and request them to Dictate. Many of these are all right — but none should ever be made Boss.

      You can Select your own Boss.

      One of the saddest sights in the world is a wrongly Bossed man or woman. There, germinate all the miseries of the Human. There, Failure drives its stakes. Let’s think of OUR Bosses for a minute. Who is your Boss? What Bosses Boss you? Here’s something refreshing —

      You can Select your own Boss.

      This is the way. Put your WILL in complete control. Make it Boss. The human Will is the greatest and grandest Boss in all the world of Bosses. Nerves! a word with you. YOU are not my Boss. Habit! step out in front. YOU are not my Boss. Appetite! just a moment. YOU are not my Boss. Will! let’s shake hands. I Select YOU as my Boss. And from this day on there is to be Order, Growth — Power in this house of mine.

      Listen

      To listen is to Learn. Doers of large affairs take very little time to talk — but they are always good Listeners. Anyone may secure a liberal education if he will but take the time to Listen. But it is imperative that you —

      Absorb what you Learn.

      General U. S. Grant was not a brilliant man. He was a failure in Business. But he set out to become Useful. He was gifted with wonderful determination and doggedness. He had Character. And to-day, high above the waters of the Hudson, alongside the beautiful Riverside Drive in New York, stands Grant’s Tomb — mute testimony to the life and work of Grant, as Soldier and President. So wonderful a Listener was he that while President he became known as “The Silent President.”

      Absorb what you Learn.

      To Listen well is a great accomplishment. No one shows his ignorance quicker than the man who persists in talking without saying anything. If you have something to say — say it. If you have nothing to say — Listen.

      Absorb what you Learn.

      Select the people to whom you listen. Listen with respect and an open Mind. Give new Ideas, new Theories and new Programs a hospitable reception. Listen well. To you remains the right to reject what you do not want. But always be big enough to Listen. Then —

      Absorb what you Learn.

      Let Go

      It takes Courage to start a thing. It takes Courage to stick to a thing. But it takes greater Courage to Let Go of a thing that you are convinced is a Failure, after you have worked and sacrificed and sweat blood to make it Win. But —

      Have Courage to Let Go.

      The basis of Self-Reliance is Self-Belief. If you consider yourself bigger than your Job — if you fed that you are holding down a $2,500.00 Job with $10,000.00 abilities — Let Go of the $2,500.00 Job and immediately proceed to the $10,000.00 Job.

      Have Courage to Let Go.

      The principle is the same in Friendship. Nothing stimulates, inspires and leads a man on to Performance like a Real Friend. But if that Friend lacks the desires that accompany Real Friendship and you are keen enough to discern it — even in Friendship —

      Have Courage to Let Go.

      Have Courage to Let Go of the little Worries, the little Annoyances — the Trifles, that almost hourly race up to you and plead you to take them in. Think not lightly of these because they are small. It takes a Strong man to kick them out of the way, to pass over them — to abandon them.

      Have Courage to Let Go.

      The Active Mind draws to itself, like a Magnet, Ideas, Theories and Problems. Some are Useful, some are Useless. When they come to you, Sift them, Weigh them, Analyze them — take them all apart. Know them for what they are. Then hold to the Useful and drop the Useless.

      Have Courage to Let Go.

      Clothes

      Note the man taking care as to his Clothes! He shall shake hands heartily with Success and Success shall take him into Partnership. Clothes may not make the man but a man easily makes his Clothes help make him. They will help you to —

      Reveal yourself through your Clothes.

      First, Clothes give a feeling of Self-respect. Then it is, however, that the sensible man forgets them. But if he doesn’t, then they help to unmake him. Clothes-worship discolors Character and takes from it its luster. For Clothes, after all, are mostly for the Mind. Else we could still dress in skins. Clothes are very accurate indicators to the real Character of a man.

      Reveal yourself through your Clothes.

      You can do so if you let your Clothes be the means and by no means the end. Clothes and mere Style are of two different Tribes. Neatness and Common Sense in Clothes count most. Shakespeare’s advice — “As much as thy purse will allow, neat but not gaudy” is difficult to improve upon.

      Reveal yourself through your Clothes.

      On the other hand, careful Selection in Clothes, so as to mirror your individuality and personality, becomes one of the most forceful means in your power for your growth. Clothes give prestige. They furnish an “entre.” The mental effect of the careful, well-dressed man or woman at once is to stimulate, invite and knit with satisfaction. The great point, however, is to so dress that people become at once interested in YOU and not your Clothes.

      Reveal yourself through your Clothes.

      Alone

      Learn to Be Alone.

      To be Healthily Alone is to be Morally afire. In such Solitude are the Ideas of Centuries hatched. Big minds Think, Decide, Stand — Conquer, while Alone. They self-examine and self-construct.

      Learn to Think Alone.

      Lincoln was Alone with his pine knots and borrowed books; Hugo was Alone with his mean garrett and pen; Cromwell was Alone at St. Ives behind his plow handle. Wherever great problems or vital decisions have had to be met, men have calmly withdrawn that they might the better weigh everything — Alone.

      Learn to Decide Alone.

      Emerson says — “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” Can a man trust himself away from himself? Is not the vital test and final greatness of a man all focused on his ability to stand absolutely Alone in emergencies? Props irritate and unnerve. So do irresponsive natures. The Crowd eats away at independence. Real Worth tops like a mountain cap. Nobody can mistake it. Like the mountain itself it stands Alone. No one will ever do for you what you are able to do for yourself — Alone.

      Learn to Stand Alone.

      If you have personal problems to solve — get Alone. If you are dissatisfied with what you are — get Alone. You will look strangely true to yourself when examined Alone. Nothing stimulates like getting Alone — so long as you get Alone to improve yourself.

      Learn to Conquer Alone.

      Arbitrate

      Take the Chip off your Shoulder.

      One of the surest evidences that this is a time of great Progress is that we are beginning to dig out with great zest from the trunks in our garrets the old-fashioned, dust-covered principles that used to keep us mighty happy before we began to get prosperous.

      The package labeled “Arbitrate,” for instance.

      The meanest human being likes to pride himself on his sense of fairness. It is a fundamental and primitive principle. It

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