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John Graham and George Horace Lorimer
Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son by John Graham and George Horace Lorimer
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- You'll find that education is 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. Everything else is screwed down tight and the screw-driver lost
- ...the fact that it isn't so much knowing a whole lot, as knowing a little and how to use it that counts
- I've always made it a rule to buy brains and I've learned that the better trained they are the faster they find reasons for getting their salaries raised
- Putting off an easy thing makes it hard and putting off a hard thing makes it impossible
- ...habits rule a man's life
- A business man's conversation should be regulated by fewer and simpler rules than any other function of the human animal. They are: Have something to say; say it; stop talking.
- Note: reminds me of Charlie Munger...
- Give fools the first and women the last word
- 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
- They [common laws of business] are so simple that a fool can't learn them; so hard that a lazy man won't
- Loyalty - It is the one commodity that hasn't any market value and it's the one that you can't pay too much for
- I don't know anything that a young businessman 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
- ...I would feel a good deal happier over your showing if you would make a downright failure or a clean-cut success once in a while, instead of always just skinning through this way
- The poorest men on earth are the relations of millionaires
- Consider carefully before you say a hard word to a man, but never let a chance to say a good one go by. Praise judiciously bestowed is money invested
- Never learn anything about your men except from themselves
- Never threaten, because a threat is a promise to pay that isn't always convenient to meet, but if you don't make it good it hurts your credit. Save a threat until you're ready to act, and then you won't need it
- ...a man who is feared to his face is hated behind his back
- There's still plenty of room at the top, but there isn't much anywhere else
- A man who does big things is too busy to talk about them
- Worrying is the one game in which, if you guess right, you don't get any satisfaction out of your smartness. A busy man has no time to bother with it
What I got out of it
- John Graham bestows nuggets of wisdom - in both business and life - for his son who at times goes through some growing pains and makes questionable decisions. Graham is often very black and white and sometimes harsh but knows exactly what he stands for and what he values. These letters offer many great thoughts on what to value and strive for in life.