WIST Quotations

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 15, Men at Arms (1993)

Dave — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 23:57:52 +0000

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 15, Men at Arms (1993)
(Source)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 2225 (1727)

Dave — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 06:24:24 +0000

Be not hasty to marry; it’s better to have one Plough going than two Cradles: and more Profit to have a Barn filled, than a Bed.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 2225 (1727)
(Source)

Keynes, John Maynard -- Treatise on Money, Book 6, ch. 30 (1930)

Dave — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 21:39:29 +0000

If Enterprise is afoot, Wealth accumulates whatever may be happening to Thrift; and if Enterprise is asleep, Wealth decays, whatever Thrift may be doing.

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) English economist
Treatise on Money, Book 6, ch. 30 (1930)
(Source)

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1737 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 22:14:26 +0000

A Penny sav’d is Twopence clear,
A Pin a day is a Groat a Year.
Save and have.
Every little makes a mickle.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1737 ed.)
(Source)

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1857-12), “The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly

Dave — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 19:16:08 +0000

Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1857-12), “The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly
(Source)

Collected in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, ch. 2 (1858).

Boetcker, William J. H. -- “The Industrial Decalogue” (1916)

Dave — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 22:25:50 +0000

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

William J. H. Boetcker (1873-1962) German-American religious leader, author, public speaker [William John Henry Boetcker]
“The Industrial Decalogue” (1916)

Often referred to as "The Ten Cannots," and also often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln.

Keynes, John Maynard -- The Treatise on Money (1930)

Dave — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 14:53:47 +0000

The engine which drives Enterprise is not Thrift, but Profit.

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) English economist
The Treatise on Money (1930)

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard’s Almanack (May 1757)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Work as if you were to live 100 years; pray as if you were to die tomorrow.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (May 1757)
(Source)