01 Dec Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son – My Notes
This book was fantastic–I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I purchased this, and honestly I’m not even sure where I first heard about the book. Written in 1903, the author (George Horace Lorimer) takes the voice of a ‘self-made merchant’–owner of a pork packing business–who is writing his young son as he sets out on his new career. The book is chucked full of pithy, memorable quotes and hilarious stories that serve to support whatever ‘lessen’ he intends to teach his naive son.
I believe you can find this book for free in eReader formats, but a paperback version is available on amazon for around $3. Within the first 3 chapters I realized how golden the book was so I went online and ordered an early edition from around 1905. I’m telling you, you will enjoy this book, if not only for the humor it provides.
(My one disclaimer: written in 1903, the book does contain a few instances of ‘outdated’ and inappropriate racial figures of speech that I do not condone. I do not believe the author bore negative racial sentiments, yet it represents the inherent racism that exists in our history.)
My Underlines from Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son
[My favorite quotes are emboldened and indented.]
“You’ll find that education’s about the only thing lying around loose in this world, and that it’s about the only thing a fellow can have as much of as he’s willing to haul away.”
Education’s a good deal like eating–a fellow can’t always tell which particular thing did him good, but he can usually tell which one did him harm.
It isn’t so much knowing a whole lot, as knowing a little and how to use it that counts.
There is plenty of room at the top here, but there is no elevator in the building.
A dollar is worth one hundred and six cents to a good business man, and he never spends the dollar.
Now I want to say right here that the meanest man alive is the one who is generous with money that he has not had to sweat for, and that the boy who is a good fellow at someone else’s expense would not work up into first-class fertilizer.
It’s not what a man does during working-hours, but after them, that breaks down his health. A fellow and his business should be bosom friends in the office and sworn enemies out of it. A clear minds is one that is swept clean of business at six o’clock every night and isn’t opened up for it again until after the shutters are taken down the next morning. -ch. 4
Some fellows use language to conceal thought; but it’s been my experience that a good many more us it instead of thought. -ch.5
In the office your sentences should be the shortest distance possible between periods. Ch.5
Remember, too, that it’s easier to look wise than to talk wisdom. Say less than the other fellow and listen more than you talk; for when a man’s listening he isn’t telling on himself and he’s flattering the fellow who is. ch.5
…it seems to afford a fellow a heap of satisfaction to pull the trigger for himself to see if it is loaded; and a lesson learned at the muzzle has the virtue of never being forgotten. Ch. 5
The adverb makes the difference between the good and the bad fellow. Ch. 7
You can trust any number of men with your money, but mighty few with your reputation. Ch. 7
I don’t know anything that a young business man ought to keep more entirely to himself than his dislikes, unless it is his likes. It’s generally expensive to have either, but it’s bankruptcy to tell about them. Ch. 7
I have always found that, whenever I thought a heap of anything I owned, there was nothing like getting the other fellow’s views expressed in figures; and the other fellow is usually a pessimist when he’s buying. Ch. 8
There’s no easier way to cure foolishness than to give a man leave to be foolish. And the only way to show a fellow that he’s chosen the wrong business is to let him try. Ch. 8
I want to say right here that the easiest way in the world to make enemies is to hire friends. Ch. 8
After all, there’s no fool like a young fool, because in the nature of things he’s got a long time to live. Ch. 9
But some people, and especially very young people, don’t think anything’s worth believing unless it’s hard to believe. Ch.9
He laughs best who doesn’t laugh at all when he’s dealing with the public. Ch. 10
A real salesman is one-part talk and nine-parts judgement; and he uses the nine-parts of judgement to tell when to use the one-part of talk. Ch. 10
If there’s one piece of knowledge that is of less use to a fellow than knowing when he’s beat, it’s knowing when he’s done just enough work to keep from being fired. Ch. 11
You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction. Ch. 11
So, when a man’s in the selling end of the business what he really needs to know is the manufacturing end; and when he’s in the factory he can’t know too much about the trade. Ch. 11
The only animal which the Bible calls patient is an ass, and that’s both good doctrine and good natural history. Ch. 12
When a fellow knows his business, he doesn’t have to explain to people that he does. It isn’t what a man knows, but what he thinks he knows that he brags about. Big talk means little knowledge. Ch. 12
Education will broaden a narrow mind, but there’s no known cure for a big head. Ch. 12
Tact is the knack of keeping quiet at the right time; of being so agreeable yourself that no one can be disagreeable to you; of making inferiority feel like equality. A tactful man can pull the stinger from a bee without getting stung. Ch. 12
Appearances are deceitful, I know, but so long as they are, there’s nothing like having them deceive for us instead of against us. Ch. 13
But it isn’t enough to be all right in this world; you’ve got to look all right as well, because two-thirds of success is making people think you are all right. Ch. 13
The farther you go, the straighter you’ve got to walk. Ch. 13
The higher [a man] climbs the plainer people can see him. Ch. 13
You must learn not to overwork a dollar any more than you would a horse. Ch. 14
It’s been my experience that pride is usually a spur to the strong and a drag on the weak. It drives the strong man along and holds the weak one back. Ch. 17
There are two things you never want to pay any attention to–abuse and flattery. The first can’t harm you and the second can’t help you. Ch. 18
As long as you can’t please both sides in this world, there’s nothing like pleasing your own side. Ch. 18
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